Special Issue Article
Sherif Badra and J. Koudy Will
Abstract
There is a wide gap between the number of patients requiring organ and tissue replacement and the organs available for transplantation. Regenerative Medicine holds the promise of narrowing this gap using cell therapy, bioengineering organs and harnessing the body’s ability to self-heal. This review describes progress made in the basic components of Regenerative Medicine (collecting and expanding cells, selecting appropriate biomaterials for their scaffolding, and employing bioactive molecules to aid in cell migration differentiation and growth) and identifies both gaps in knowledge and challenges in execution requiring further research.