ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the framework necessary for intelligent de novo design of new scaffold materials. It discusses enabling technologies in materials processing that have yielded nanoscale biomaterials as tissue engineering scaffolds for various organ systems. The chapter also discusses the need for determining potential undesirable immunogenic responses to nano- and microsystems. A long-standing goal of tissue engineering has been to create functional tissues, ideally by promoting the regenerative capacity of a patient’s autologous cells by controlling cellular response. In order to sort out what cues cells are receiving from their three-dimensional extracellular environments, many groups have begun to make model environments with well-defined chemical and topological features. Nanoscale surface roughness can also affect cell differentiation. One method of circumventing immune response is to encapsulate tissue-engineered constructs within immunoisolation membranes. In most tissue engineering applications, a positive result is more likely if the scaffold material can provide the environmental stimuli necessary for healthy tissue regeneration.
