Speaker
Description
Articular cartilage is a specialized hyaline cartilage that covers the epiphyseal surfaces of bones within synovial joints. It functions to reduce friction and distribute mechanical loads over the joint surface. Damage to the tissue leads to increased stress, inflammation, pain and progressive joint degeneration, potentially resulting in the development of osteoarthritis due to the tissue's limited capacity for self-repair. This has led to increased interest in novel biofabrication and bioprinting strategies to develop scaffolds or living tissues capable of regenerating damaged synovial joints. This invited talk will describe two distinct biofabrication strategies for synovial joint regeneration. The first part of the talk will describe how decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM) derived from distinct musculoskeletal tissues can be processed into multi-layered scaffolds capable of directing osteochondral defect regeneration. The second part of the talk will introduce the concept of microtissues as biological building blocks for the engineering of replacement tissue and organs, and then describe how the spatial patterning of growth factors into baths of microtissues can be used to engineer osteochondral grafts.