The Convergence of Tissue Engineering and Emerging Technologies: Where Are We Now and What’s Next to be Engineered
Joaquim Miguel de Oliveira has Graduation in Biochemistry (Faculty of Sciences – University of Porto). Post-Graduation in Biomedical Engineering (Faculty of Engineering – University of Porto). PhD in Materials Science and Technology, Tissue Engineering and Hybrid Materials (Dept. Polymer Engineering – University of Minho). Actually, he is Associate Researcher, 3B´s (Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics) Research Group, Institute 3Bs, University of Minho. He is one of the editors of the book Making Research Visible to the World, In Canon Foundation in Europe - Canon Alumni Book, Published by Canon Foundation in Europe, Amstelveen. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications in journals and has and h-index of 38. He has also presented his work at numerous national and international level conferences. His research interest areas are Sciences and Materials Technology (Dendrimers, Tissue Engineering, Hybrid Materials and Nanotechnology), Cell Engineering (Stem cells), and 3D tissue engineered in vitro cancer models.
Joaquim Miguel de Oliveira
Instituto de Investigação em Biomateriais, Biodegradáveis e Biomiméticos , Universidade do Minho, Guimarães, Portugal
Abstract
Tissue Engineering (TE) has been showing a great promise for tackling different diseases/disorders. By its turn, emerging technologies such as microfluidics, bioreactors, and Bio 3D Printing possibly addressing the 4th medical revolution challenges, in particular the need for developing personalised therapies and in vitro 3D models of diseases (e.g., osteoarthritis and cancer). Thus, the convergence of TE with such emerging technologies can offer new regenerative possibilities which can greatly impact Human health. In this lecture, we will discuss the recent developments related to the Biomaterials and TE strategies developed at the 3Bs Research Group. We recently proposed gellan gum, silk fibroin and silk fibroin/elastin hydrogels and bioinks (e.g. ionic-, photo- and enzymatically crosslinked) for tissue engineering scaffolding, fabrication of personalized and memory-shape implants, and Bio 3D printing of different tissues (e.g., meniscus, intervertebral disc, etc). These achivements will be overviewed herein. In addition, the engineering approaches combining (nano)biomaterials and in vitro 3D models on a chip will be also overviewed. A personal perspective of the future directions of the field will be also presented in particular how we can functionalize the developed bioinks for imaging purposes, i.e. that can be detected under Mn-MRI. In summary, we aim to develop a novel class of multimodal biomaterials and bioinks that can open new possibilities in tissue engineering, imaging and personalized medicine.
