Needing guidance
Imagine if you could undergo a simple operation to repair the damage caused by a heart attack or to heal a spinal injury. What if, instead of waiting for an organ transplant, patients could receive a laboratory-grown replacement, using their own stem cells? Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine aim to make these dreams a reality, but to do so we need to harness natural repair processes and replicate the complexity found within the human body.
This picture shows nerve cells (neurons) growing in a plastic Petri dish. Left to their own devices, they grow randomly and do not form the aligned bundles of cells found within the nervous system. Our research involves the development of ‘scaffolds’ to grow cells like these in 3D. By mimicking the structures found in our bodies we aim to provide specific guidance to the cells, enabling us to repair or regenerate diseased and damaged tissues.
Dr Paul De Bank, Department of Pharmacy & Pharmacology
Needing guidance
Imagine if you could undergo a simple operation to repair the damage caused by a heart attack or to heal a spinal injury. What if, instead of waiting for an organ transplant, patients could receive a laboratory-grown replacement, using their own stem cells? Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine aim to make these dreams a reality, but to do so we need to harness natural repair processes and replicate the complexity found within the human body.
This picture shows nerve cells (neurons) growing in a plastic Petri dish. Left to their own devices, they grow randomly and do not form the aligned bundles of cells found within the nervous system. Our research involves the development of ‘scaffolds’ to grow cells like these in 3D. By mimicking the structures found in our bodies we aim to provide specific guidance to the cells, enabling us to repair or regenerate diseased and damaged tissues.
Dr Paul De Bank, Department of Pharmacy & Pharmacology