Introduction to Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials

Catalog description

This course introduces students to principles of tissue engineering (TE) and applications of biomaterials in the field of regenerative medicine. The course begins by covering fundamentals of what constitutes a biological tissue, exploring its cellular and extracellular components. Students will learn the basics of mechanobiology and understand principles of cell-to-material interactions. Students then learn how concepts of engineering and material science can be applied to the fabrication of biomaterials that emulate the functional properties of biological tissues in vitro. This course will cover such important topics as tissue scaffold building, natural polymer modification for bioplastic synthesis and analysis of biomaterials and key principles of their interactions with cells. Students will explore various techniques and tools available for tissue engineering researchers and will be introduced to a survey of methods to assess mechanobiological and other aspects of cell-to-biomaterial interactions; from microscopy and mechanical tests of whole constructs to gene expression analyses and immunochemistry assays. The course introduces students to multiple ways how one can learn if their synthetic material indeed represents a natural equivalent or is useful and truly applicable for patients’ needs. The course is finalized by studying various sterilization methods and TE applications outside of human body, like in vitro disease modeling. As a part of this course students will carry out a literature-based Design Project aimed at finding a novel tissue engineering solution for an existing medical problem. | Prerequisites: CM-UY 2211 and CM-UY 2213