Tissue engineering: use of scaffolds for ligament and tendon healing and regeneration

Excerpt

The field of Tissue Engineering has experienced exponential growth since its inception a little more than 20 years ago. In 1987, a small number of bioengineers were invited by the US National Science Foundation (yours truly was fortunate enough to be included) to discuss an emerging concept of combining biology and engineering to appropriately address the structure and function relationship of biological tissues. At that meeting, the term “tissue engineering” was coined by Professor Y. C. Fung of the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, CA, USA. The first “Tissue Engineering” workshop was then organized and was held in the following year in Lake Tahoe, CA, USA. A number of biologists and bioengineers sat together for 4 days and the discussion centered on vascular endothelial cell technology, skin and connective tissue, implants, musculoskeletal system and orthopaedic surgery, artificial organs, the nervous system, the hematopoietic system, and mathematical modeling [10]. …