A system approach to tissue engineering processes and products. STEPS

Tissue engineering (TE) is a rapidly emerging collection of technologies aimed at the regeneration of tissues and organs for the treatment of disease and injury. The potential for TE to make a significant impact on healthcare has already been achieved, but there are a number of reasons why the commercial and clinical introduction of TE products and processes has proven so difficult. STEPS project addresses this by introducing a systems approach to TE processes and products planned to reach an integrated network of TE-related knowledge in four different tissues: visceral, cartilage, bone and skin. The main objective is to provide a totally new infrastructure, based upon the hypothesis that the only way to successfully implement TE is systematically link together all aspects of this multi-disciplinary process. Specifically, the technological components will include cell sourcing and manipulation, novel biomaterial development, bioreactor design and the integration of the TE construct into the living host. The programme incorporate also a determination of socio-economic issues related to ethics and health economics.