W. Sun, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Tissue Engineering, integrating a variety of science and engineering disciplines to create artificial tissues and organs for transplantation, which restore, maintain or improve the function of human tissues, is emerging as one of the most promising therapies in regenerative medicine. Advance in computer-aided technologies and solid freeform fabrication, along with their integrations with Biology, Engineering, Biomaterials, and Information Technology to tissue engineering applications has evolved a new field of computer-aided tissue engineering. This interdisciplinary field spans medical imaging process, CAD/CAM and advanced manufacturing for modeling, design, and fabrication of biological tissue and organ substitutes. Among many critical technologies adopted in the field of computer-aided tissue engineering, solid freeform fabrication has been one of the most important for manufacturing tissue extra-cellular matrices or scaffolds onto which cells can attach, grow, and are guided to form new tissues. Latest advances of the freeform fabrication technology have further extended its application to bio-plotting, cell and organ printing, and construction of bioactive tissue and organ constructs. This presentation will introduce some salient advances in the research and development of solid freeform fabrication in computer-aided tissue engineering, particularly to focus on the integration of solid freeform fabrication with computer-aided tissue modeling, computer-aided implantology, and manufacturing of complex tissue scaffolds. An overview of computer-aided tissue engineering, its scope and challenges, applications of using rapid prototyping biomodeling for surgical rehearsal and planning, example of computer-aided tissue engineering based biomimetic design approach and freeform fabrication of load-bearing tissue replacements and scaffolds, and our development of biopolymer deposition for freeform fabrication of cell-imbedded tissue constructs will also be presented.
Summary: Tissue Engineering, integrating a variety of science and engineering disciplines to create artificial tissues and organs for transplantation, which restore, maintain or improve the function of human tissues, is emerging as one of the most promising therapies in regenerative medicine. Advance in computer-aided technologies and solid freeform fabrication, along with their integrations with Biology, Engineering, Biomaterials, and Information Technology to tissue engineering applications has evolved a new field of computer-aided tissue engineering. This interdisciplinary field spans medical imaging process, CAD/CAM and advanced manufacturing for modeling, design, and fabrication of biological tissue and organ substitutes. Among many critical technologies adopted in the field of computer-aided tissue engineering, solid freeform fabrication has been one of the most important for manufacturing tissue extra-cellular matrices or scaffolds onto which cells can attach, grow, and are guided to form new tissues. Latest advances of the freeform fabrication technology have further extended its application to bio-plotting, cell and organ printing, and construction of bioactive tissue and organ constructs. This presentation will introduce some salient advances in the research and development of solid freeform fabrication in computer-aided tissue engineering, particularly to focus on the integration of solid freeform fabrication with computer-aided tissue modeling, computer-aided implantology, and manufacturing of complex tissue scaffolds. An overview of computer-aided tissue engineering, its scope and challenges, applications of using rapid prototyping biomodeling for surgical rehearsal and planning, example of computer-aided tissue engineering based biomimetic design approach and freeform fabrication of load-bearing tissue replacements and scaffolds, and our development of biopolymer deposition for freeform fabrication of cell-imbedded tissue constructs will also be presented.
