Bioreactor production of human embryonic stem cell derived osteoblasts and chondrocytes

肌肉骨骼疾病，包括骨质疏松症和骨关节损伤，目前影响着全世界数亿人。这些疾病导致许多人的生活质量下降，并给医疗保健系统带来相当大的持续成本。最近，组织工程已成为治疗受影响个体的潜在新替代方案。组织工程包括将细胞与支架支持物结合以产生功能性替代组织。特别是，正在研究胚胎干细胞作为再生组织的细胞的潜在来源。胚胎干细胞（ESCs）可以分裂形成许多细胞，并且是多能的，这意味着它们具有形成体内任何组织类型的能力。最近，我们已经成功地在小鼠胚胎干细胞的小规模固定培养中产生了骨和软骨组织，我们已经开始将其整合到可生物降解的支架中。由于临床应用对组织的高水平需求，将需要更多的细胞。我们将利用我们在模型（小鼠）系统上的成功作为拟议研究的基础，该研究将在计算机控制的生物反应器中研究人类ESC的大规模生产和分化。我们的长期目标是将我们的方法应用于人类临床环境。因此，这项工作的成果之一，成功生产骨和软骨组织，将对成千上万患有关节损伤和疾病的加拿大人非常有益。我们的工作将对组织工程领域的进步和发展产生世界性的影响。该研究的其他直接成果将包括一个多学科团队的融合，该团队具有生物工程，工程物理，生物物理，生物学和数学方面的专业知识，围绕一个独特的医学问题，以及开发一个涉及生物医学工程和干细胞生物学的独特培训计划。

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.