Abstract:

Tissue damage and organ disfunction caused by trauma or variety of diseases have become major threatens to human health. The restoring, maintaining, or enhancing tissue and organ function have been a great challenge in medical science. Tissue engineering, a new approach that use the combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to repair or restore the biological functions of damaged tissue/organ, is changing the traditional therapeutic strategy from tissue/organ graft to tissue/organ regeneration. With the progresses on seeding cells, biomaterials and engineering techniques, we have successfully constructed tissue engineered bone, cartilage and tendon to repair the related defects in large mammals. In addition, tissue engineered bone has been applied in clinic with satisfied results. The successful works in large animal studies and clinical trials demonstrated the potential power of this approach in tissue/organ regeneration. These works have been awarded for National Award for Technological Invention 2nd Prize in 2008.

Key words: tissue engineering, bone, cartilage, tendon, blood vessel, stem cells