Regenerative Medicine is an interdisciplinary field of research and clinical applications, focused on repair, replacement, or regeneration of cells, tissues, or organs to restore impaired function resulting congenital defects, disease, trauma etc. One source of cells for Regenerative Medicine will eventually be hiPSC cells created by reprogramming adult cells. Development of successful cell-based therapies relies upon tissue engineering for the arrangement of assorted cells into correct spatial organization and the creation of optimal microenvironments for growth and differentiation. A major requirement for viability and function of the implantable construct is the availability of blood vessels to support its in vivo growth.

Vascularisation remains a critical obstacle in engineering thicker, metabolically demanding organs, such as the heart muscle, brain and liver. Regenerating tissue over 100–200 μm exceeds the capacity of nutrient supply and waste removal by diffusion, and requires an intimate supply of vascular networks. It takes several weeks for a scaffold to become fully vascularized in vivo. Recently, there is great interest in generating tissue-engineered constructs that are already vascularised before implantation to shorten the time needed for implant vascularisation and survival. Recent applications use vascular cells generated by differentiating hiPSCs, having the advantage that they produce cellular progeny autologous to the patients from which they were taken.

Tissue Engineering Using Vascular Organoids From Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Mural Cell Phenotypes

Generation of stem cell-based bioartificial anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) grafts for effective ACL rupture repair