Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering Applications

This book is divided into three main sections. The first section focuses on a variety of types of materials, including hydrogels, fibrous materials, ceramics, elastomers, micro- and nanotechnology, natural materials, and polypeptides. These topics cover the main types and classes of biomaterials that are being investigated for engineering a range of tissues.The chapters provide basic background on each material type, as well as a review of how these materials have been implemented into tissue engineering constructs and/or products.The second section focuses on the biomaterial component in the engineering of specific tissues such as cartilage, tendon/ligament, bone, fibrocartilage, liver, cardiac muscle,vascular structures, and neural tissues. This section also addresses aspects of how biomaterial design may be utilized to control stem cell fate.Within these chapters, specific criteria in biomaterial development are addressed, and materials that have been investigated to engineer the respective tissues are reviewed. The final section addresses the translation of these new tissues to the clinic, and issues that must be considered in this process.