Dramatic advances in the fields of biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, genetics, biomedical engineering and materials science have given rise to the remarkable new cross-disciplinary field of tissue engineering. Tissue engineering uses synthetic or naturally derived, engineered biomaterials to replace damaged or defective tissues, such as bone, skin, and even organs.
The easy accessibility of the eye and the established link between specific genetic defects and ocular disorders offer hope for using gene therapy to provide long-term therapeutic benefit. Two reports in the current issue of Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., describe the effective replacement of a human gene to preserve photoreceptor function in a mouse model of severe retinal degeneration. The articles are available free online.
Two NJIT biomedical researchers have received the prestigious Coulter Foundation Translational Awards for promising patent applications that may some day extend peoples' lives.The Coulter program provides funding for professors in established biomedical engineering departments within the U.S. Initial funding for each professor will be at least $200,000 over a two-year period.
These days people usually don't die from a heart attack. But the damage to heart muscle is irreversible, and most patients eventually succumb to congestive heart failure, the most common cause of death in developed countries.Stem cells now offer hope for achieving what the body can't do: mending broken hearts. Engineers and physicians at the University of Washington have built a scaffold that supports the growth and integration of stem cell-derived cardiac muscle cells. A description of the scaffold, which supports the growth of cardiac cells in the lab and encourages blood vessel growth in living animals, is published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Every year nearly 6.2 million bone fractures occur in the United States as a result of trauma and disease. Current standards for bone repair can lead to rapid bone fusion but with limited mechanical strength often due to the lack of cortical bone tissue which is difficult to harvest without pain and severe morbidity. Funded by the National Science Foundation, Dr. Hongjun Wang, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, Chemical Biology and Biomedical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology and his collaborators have developed a revolutionary "bottom-up" approach for reconstructing intricate bone tissue with the potential to form hierarchical cortical bone.
The Science paper notes that the development of silk hydrogels, films, fibers and sponges is making possible advances in photonics and optics, nanotechnology, electronics, adhesives and microfluidics, as well as engineering of bone and ligaments. Because silk fiber formation does not rely on complex or toxic chemistries, such materials are biologically and environmentally friendly, even able to integrate with living systems.
According to new dental reports by iData Research, the leading global authority in medical device, dental and pharmaceutical market research, the U.S. market for dental implants is expected to regain double-digit growth by 2013, and will help drive the dental prosthetic market to reach over 82 million prosthetic placements by 2016.
Bioengineers from Rice University's BioScience Research Collaborative have won a $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop an injectable mix of polymers and adult stem cells that can spur the growth of new cartilage in injured knees and other joints.
Shrink Nanotechnologies, Inc., an innovative nanotechnology company developing products and licensing opportunities in the solar energy production, medical diagnostics and sensors and biotechnology research and development tools businesses, announced today that certain patent applications related to its advanced tissue engineering technology platform, CellAlign™, have been filed.
Nitto Denko Corporation, Japan's leading diversified materials manufacturer and Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a world leader in the discovery and development of RNAi-based therapeutics, today announced the initiation of a collaboration and license agreement for the development of siRNA therapeutics for the treatment of fibrotic diseases.
SANUWAVE Health, Inc., an emerging medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of non-invasive, biological response activating devices in the regenerative medicine area, reports the European launch of the orthoPACE device intended for use in orthopedic, trauma and sports medicine indications following CE mark approval last month.
Improved delivery methods and better testing systems are needed to advance promising gene therapy strategies for treating prostate cancer, according to a series of review articles in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Facial reconstruction patients may soon have the option of custom-made bone replacements optimized for both form and function, thanks to researchers at the University of Illinois and the Ohio State University Medical Center.
Scientists are using the engineering technology behind the creation of high-performance aircraft components to design 3-D models for the replacement of delicate and complex facial bones lost to cancer surgery or trauma.
For someone with a severe, incurable lung disorder such as cystic fibrosis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung transplant may be the only chance for survival. Unfortunately, it's often not a very good chance. Matching donor lungs are rare, and many would-be recipients die waiting for the transplants that could save their lives.
Arteriocyte, Inc., was honored Friday by the Ohio Venture Association as a Venture of Year Award Finalist. Founded in 2004 to develop proprietary stem cell and tissue engineering based therapies, Arteriocyte focuses on developing commercially available stem cell based therapies using multiple sources of adult derived stem cells (marrow, peripheral cord blood, and cartilage) for delivery to injured tissues in order to speed repair and improve function.
Athersys, Inc. and its collaborators, including the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine and Case Western Reserve University, announced today that they have been awarded $1 million through the Ohio Third Frontier Biomedical Program to support research into the treatment of spinal cord injury with MultiStem, Athersys' proprietary stem cell product candidate.
Spanish scientists have proposed using human amniotic membrane as a new tool for repairing damaged human articular cartilage, which heals very poorly because of its low capacity for self-repair. Their research, published in the journal Cell and Tissue Banking, shows that the cellular density of the cartilage synthesised could be greater than that of the body's own natural cartilage.
Mayo Clinic and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are announcing a strategic alliance designed to promote a broad spectrum of collaborative research, development of new technologies and clinical tools, and design and implementation of novel education programs. Both parties recently signed an agreement establishing the formal relationship.
Singapore's leading science and technology university, Nanyang Technological University, and Israel's number one university, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, today announced a new collaboration to jointly offer a Doctor of Philosophy programme.
A team of researchers at the University of Nottingham have invented a new class of materials that can be injected by surgeons as a low-viscosity fluid into the body that, using body heat as the only trigger, converts into a tough porous material with mechanical properties that mimic human cancellous bone.
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