Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

• Improving biocapacity of implanted devices
• Repairing wound ulcers
• Delivering bespoke engineered blood vessels and 3D vasculature
• Developing novel materials and in silico predictive models of human tissue

In light of increasing rates of obesity and diabetes, there is a profound and increasing need for constructs that can be ‘plugged into’ a patient to repair damaged tissue and malfunctioning organs.

Current artificial implants do not typically direct local cell growth, resulting in delayed healing, substantial fibrosis (scar tissue development) or both. Additionally, the current generation of organ-like implants lacks functional vasculature to nurture nutrient and gas transfer, leading to reduced function and local necrosis.

Our research addresses these gaps by engineering biologically directing surfaces and three-dimensional constructs that will direct and enhance local tissue performance.

This research will empower governments to regulate private behaviour to promote public health. Legal strategies like new legislation, heightened regulatory enforcement and litigation can be a highly cost-effective mechanism to deliver health benefits to the population.

Internal collaborators

• Professor Marcela Bilek
• Associate Professor Wojtek Chrzanowski
• Professor Fariba Dehghani
• Professor Shaun Jackson
• Professor David McKenzie
• Professor Tony Weiss (Project Node Leader)

External collaborators

• Associate Professor Nasim Annabi, UCLA
• Professor Markus Buehler, MIT
• Professor David Kaplan, Tufts University
• Professor Ali Khademhosseini, UCLA