What lies at the interface of regenerative medicine and developmental biology?
At a recent Keystone Symposium on 'Developmental Biology and Tissue Engineering', new findings in areas ranging from stem cell differentiation, embryonic pattern formation and organ regeneration to engineered cell microenvironments, synthetic biomaterials and artificial tissue fabrication were described. Although these new advances were exciting, this symposium clarified that biologists and engineers often view the challenge of tissue formation from different, and sometimes conflicting, perspectives. These dichotomies raise questions regarding the definition of regenerative medicine, but offer the promise of exciting new interdisciplinary approaches to tissue and organ regeneration, if effective alliances can be established.
Ingber
Donald E
DE
Vascular Biology Program, Department of Pathology, Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. donald.ingber@childrens.harvard.edu
Levin
Michael
M
D000818:Animals; D001698:Biomedical Engineering / Q000639:trends; D015509:Developmental Biology / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D044968:Regenerative Medicine / Q000639:trends*; D013234:Stem Cells; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000639:trends*