Advances in tissue engineering

Tissue engineering is a newly developed specialty involved in the construct ion of tissues and organs either in vitro or in vivo. Tremendous progress h as been achieved over the past decade in tisse construction as well as in o ther related areas, such as hone 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 hone d efects, articular cartilage defects and tendon defects in animals. In basic research areas, bone marrow stromal cells have been induced and transforme d into osteoblasts and chondrocytes in vitro. Mouse embryo stern cell lines we established have differentiated into neuron precursor, cardiac muscle c ells and epithelial cells. Genetic modifications of seed cells for promotin g cell proliferation, delaying cell aging and inducing immune tolerance hav e also been investigated.