ABSTRACT
A major goal of tissue engineering is to employ the principles of rational design to recreate appropriate signals to cells that promote biological processes leading to production of new tissues or repair of damaged ones. A key modulator of cell behavior is the ECM that provides individual cells with architectural cues of time and space, modulates bioavailability of soluble growth and differentiation factors, and organizes multicellular tissue development. This chapter will focus on key ECM components and their functions, emphasizing relationships between natural matrices present in both hard and soft tissues and cell function. The concept of “mining” the natural matrix for active motifs that are useful in tissue
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engineering applications also is introduced. Finally, the utility of translating knowledge gained from study of native ECM to controlled delivery of growth factors and deliberate modulation of cell and tissue phenotype for engineering purposes is discussed.
