Advances in tissue engineering

Tissue engineering is a newly developed specialty involved in the construction of tissues and organs either in vitro or in vivo. Tremendous progress has been achieved over the past decade in tisse construction as well as in other related areas, such as bone marrow stromal cells, embryonic stem cells and tissue progenitor cells. In our laboratory, tissues of full-thickness skin, bone, cartilage and tendon have been successfully engineered, and the engineered tissues have repaired full-thickness skin wound, cranial bone defects, articular cartilage defects and tendon defects in animals. In basic research areas, bone marrow stromal cells have been induced and transformed into osteoblasts and chondrocytes in vitro. Mouse embryo stem cell lines we established have differentiated into neuron precursor, cardiac muscle cells and epithelial cells. Genetic modifications of seed cells for promoting cell proliferation, delaying cell aging and inducing immune tolerance have also been investigated.