How is Tissue Engineering research unique at Stevens?
The traditional method of Tissue Engineering involves implanting a scaffold with cultured cells in a specific location. The difficulties in standard development methods result from the seeding and culture of cells in a preformatted porous scaffold, which is often inadequate in restoring the lost function of diseased tissues. This is due in part to the lack of structural integrity and non-uniformity of the porous scaffold implants. With current skin grafting techniques, the procedure can take up to three weeks. Comparatively, the research from Dr. Wang’s lab has proved so useful that the skin grafting process can be shortened from three weeks to just one day. Professor Wang has been studying this field since 1995, and believes the main limitation of traditional techniques stems from “the inability to make a complex tissue as a result of a top-down’ approach, leading to slow progress in tissue engineering.” His research has resulted in the development of a “bottom-up” methodology, using
