ABSTRACT
Tissue engineering has been described as “an interdisciplinary field that applies the principles of engineering and life science towards the development of biological substitutes that restore, maintain, or improve tissue or organ function.”1 The history of this emerging field began in the early 1970s and gained popularity in the 1980s through the experimental initiatives of Langer and Vacanti.2 In 1993, Langer and Vacanti described the utilization of a branching network of synthetic biocompatible/biodegradable polymers configured as scaffolds seeded with viable cells, a seminal paper that became the foundation for current advances in the field of tissue engineering.1
