For nearly a decade, researchers have investigated the possibility of cell transplantation for cardiac repair. More recently, the emerging fields of tissue engineering and biomaterials have begun to provide potential treatments. Tissue engineering approaches are designed to repair lost or damaged tissue through the use of growth factors, cellular transplantation, and biomaterial scaffolds. Ther...

The major limitation of current engineered myocardial patches for the repair of heart defects is that insulating polymeric scaffold walls hinder the transfer of electrical signals between cardiomyocytes. This loss in signal transduction results in arrhythmias when the scaffolds are implanted. We report that small, subtoxic concentrations of single-walled carbon nanotubes, on the order of tens o...

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is the major intraarticular ligamentous structure of the knee, which functions as a joint stabilizer. It is the most commonly injured ligament of the knee, with over 150,000 ACL surgeries performed annually in the United States. Due to limitations associated with current grafts for ACL reconstruction, there is a significant demand for alternative graft syste...

Heart valves are currently under thorough investigation in tissue engineering (TE) research. Mechanical and biological heart valve prostheses which are recently used have several shortcomings. While allogenic and xenogenic biological prostheses are related to graft rejection, degeneration and thrombosis, resulting in a high rate of reoperation. Mechanical prostheses on the other hand are based ...

Tracheal stenosis can become a fatal condition, and current treatments include augmentation of the airway with autologous tissue. A tissue-engineered approach would not require a donor source, while providing an implant that meets both surgeons' and patients' needs. A fibrous, polymeric scaffold organized in gradient bilayers of polycaprolactone (PCL) and poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) wit...

In materials science, the ability to develop porous constructs with high mechanical strength is important for a broad range of emerging applications, including filters, catalyst support, and tissue engineering scaffolds. Particularly for orthopedic surgery, the regeneration of large bone defects in load-bearing limbs remains a challenging problem that require scaffolds that combine the strength...

The biomaterial scaffold plays a key role in most tissue engineering strategies. Its surface properties, micropatterning, degradation, and mechanical features affect not only the generation of the tissue construct in vitro, but also its in vivo functionality. The area of myocardial tissue engineering still faces significant difficulties and challenges in the design of bioactive scaffolds, which...

Polymeric nanofibers that mimic the structure and function of the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) are of great interest in tissue engineering as scaffolding materials to restore, maintain or improve the function of human tissues. Electrospinning has been recently developed as an effective technique for nanofiber fabrication. In our study, the electropsinning method is used to create hybrid n...

Porous monolithic inorganic/polymeric hybrid materials have been prepared via ring-opening metathesis copolymerization starting from a highly polar monomer, i.e., cis-5-cyclooctene-trans-1,2-diol and a 7-oxanorborn-2-ene-derived cross-linker in the presence of porogenic solvents and two types of inorganic nanoparticles (i.e., CaCO₃ and calcium hydroxyapatite, respectively) using the third-gener...