Abstract
This article summarizes the views expressed at the third session of the workshop "Tissue Engineering—The
Next Generation," which was devoted to the engineering of complex tissue structures. Antonios Mikos
described the engineering of complex oral and craniofacial tissues as a "guided interplay" between biomaterial
scaffolds, growth factors, and local cell populations toward the restoration of the original architecture
and function of complex tissues. Susan Herring, reviewing osteogenesis and vasculogenesis, explained
that the vascular arrangement precedes and dictates the architecture of the new bone, and proposed that
engineering of osseous tissues might benefit from preconstruction of an appropriate vasculature. Jennifer
Elisseeff explored the formation of complex tissue structures based on the example of stratified cartilage
engineered using stem cells and hydrogels. Helen Lu discussed engineering of tissue interfaces, a problem
critical for biological fixation of tendons and ligaments, and the development of a new generation of fixation
devices. Rita Kandel discussed the challenges related to the re-creation of the cartilage-bone interface, in
the context of tissue engineered joint repair. Frederick Schoen emphasized, in the context of heart valve
engineering, the need for including the requirements derived from "adult biology" of tissue remodeling and
establishing reliable early predictors of success or failure of tissue engineered implants. Mehmet Toner
presented a review of biopreservation techniques and stressed that a new breakthrough in this field may be
necessary to meet all the needs of tissue engineering. David Mooney described systems providing temporal
and spatial regulation of growth factor availability, which may find utility in virtually all tissue engineering
and regeneration applications, including directed
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