Tissue engineering is an emerging interdisciplinary field, occupying a major position in the regenerative medicine that aims at restoring lost or damaged tissues and organs with use of cells. Regenerative medicine includes cellular therapy and tissue engineering. In general, the former treats patients by cell infusion alone, while tissue engineering needs biomaterials and growth factors in addition to cells. Biomaterials function in tissue engineering as the scaffold or template for cells to proliferate, differentiate, and produce matrices. This book focuses on the fundamentals (biomaterials, scaffolds, cell cultures, bioreactors, animal models etc.), recent animal and human trials, and future prospects regarding tissue engineering.
