Tissue engineering in the musculoskeletal system: Disease and repair

POLY 292

Jennifer Elisseeff, jhe@jhu.edu, Associate professor, Biomedical engineering and orthopedic surgery, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Clark 106, Baltimore, MD 21218
The founders of tissue engineering described the development of organized matrix and tissue-like substance from the combination of three dimensional biomaterial scaffolds with cells after incubating in vitro or in vivo. We are investigating hydrogel-based materials that can form in joint (cartilage) defects in situ. In addition to developing new biological-synthetic hydrogels, we are evaluating different cell types that may be applied to skeletal tissue engineering, including stem cells. While the signals to induce adult (marrow-derived) stem cells to cartilage and bone have been discovered by scientists and can be translated to tissue engineering systems, little is know how embryonic stem cells operate. Therefore, we have dedicated significant energy to understand how embryonic cells differentiate towards musculoskeletal tissues and created an embryonic mesenchymal-like stem cell.
 

Herman Mark Award in Honor of Robert Langer
1:00 PM-4:55 PM, Monday, August 20, 2007 Westin Boston Waterfront -- Grand Ballroom B, Oral

Division of Polymer Chemistry

The 234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 19-23, 2007