Speaker
Description
Current clinical approaches for tendon injuries and disorders remain limited, often leading to suboptimal outcomes such as poor healing and high reinjury rates. Tissue engineering holds promise as an alternative, yet the unique characteristics of tendon tissue—its complex hierarchical architecture, distinct biomechanical properties, sensitivity to mechanical stimuli, and inherently low regenerative capacity—pose major challenges for the design of effective regenerative therapies. Critical requirements include reproducing the fibrillar, hierarchical extracellular matrix, enabling remote activation of mechanotransduction pathways, and providing the biochemical signals necessary to initiate regenerative processes.
Our group has been developing cell-laden, three-dimensional magnetically responsive platforms that emulate essential features of native tendon tissue. These constructs can be remotely stimulated during in vitro culture or after in vivo implantation through external magnetic fields. Using both conventional and advanced fabrication approaches, such as multimaterial 3D bioprinting, we design magneto-responsive systems that replicate aspects of tendon architecture, composition, and mechanical performance. When combined with appropriate stem cell populations, these systems are capable of guiding cellular behavior toward tendon regeneration.
We have shown that magnetic stimulation at different intensities and frequencies can promote tenogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) and modulate inflammatory responses across multiple cell types. At the same time, these 3D cell-laden magnetic platforms function as advanced tissue models, offering insights into the mechanisms of tendon homeostasis and repair. Such knowledge provides the foundation for rational design principles in the biofabrication of living tendon substitutes, with the ultimate goal of enabling effective tendon regeneration rather than mere tissue repair.
