ABSTRACT
Stem cell bioengineering is focused on the quantitative description of the processes regulating stem cell fate and the use of this information for the development of clinically and industrially relevant cell-based technologies (Zandstra 2004). Realizing this goal requires a combination of in vitro, in vivo, and in silico approaches to elucidate the temporal and spatial regulatory mechanisms that underlie stem cell fate determination (Davey and Zandstra 2004). To date, stem cell bioengineering initiatives have studied the growth of cells on modi¦ed surfaces and culture con¦gurations, methods to control medium supplementation and microenvironmental conditions, tools for primary cell manipulation, and quantitative measurement of primary cell responses, as well as mathematical models of cell population and individual cell processes (Zandstra 2004).
