Bioreactor production of human embryonic stem cell derived osteoblasts and chondrocytes

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Musculoskeletal ailments, including osteoporosis and bone and joint injuries, currently affect several hundred million people worldwide. These conditions result in a decreased quality of life for many people and a considerable ongoing cost to health care systems. Recently, tissue engineering has emerged as a potential new alternative for treating affected individuals. Tissue engineering involves combining cells with a scaffold support to generate functional replacement tissues. In particular, the use of embryonic stem cells is being investigated as a potential source of cells to regenerate tissues. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can divide to form many cells, and are pluripotent, meaning mat they possess the ability to form any tissue type in the body. Recently, we have successfully generated bone and cartilage tissue in small-scale stationary cultures of mouse ESCs, which we have begun to integrate into biodegradable scaffolds. As a result of the high level of tissue demand for clinical use, many more cells will be required. We will use our success with the model (mouse) system as a basis for the proposed research, which will examine the large-scale production and differentiation, of human ESCs in computer-controlled bioreactors. Our long-term goal will be to apply our approach to the human clinical setting. Hence, one of the outcomes of this work, successful production of bone and cartilage tissue, will be highly beneficial to the thousands of Canadians who suffer from joint injuries and diseases. Our work will have worldwide implications towards the progress and advancement of the field of tissue engineering. Other immediate outcomes of the research will include the coalescence of a multidisciplinary team with expertise in bioengineering, engineering physics, biophysics, biology, and mathematics around a unique medical problem and the development of a unique training program involving biomedical engineering and stem cell biology.