Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering Applications: A Review of the Past and Future Trends

Dr. Jason A. Burdick is the Wilf Family Term Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Wyoming (1998) and his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Colorado (2002). He began his position at Penn after postdoctoral work (2003-2005) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The focus of work in his laboratory is the development of biodegradable polymers for applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery. Much of this work focuses on the engineering of cartilage tissues, including articular cartilage and the knee meniscus, as well as biomaterial approaches to attenuate outcomes after myocardial infarction. Additionally, much of this work is focused on using material cues to alter stem cell behavior, including with spatial and temporal control. He has received several research awards, including a K22 Scholar Development and Career Transition Award from the National Institutes of Health, a Fellowship in Science and Engineering from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, an Early Career Award from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, and a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. Additionally, his work is supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. He has published over 75 peer-reviewed papers and is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research A, Biomedical Materials, and Tissue Engineering. Dr. Robert Mauck is an Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He obtained his undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University (1998), and completed his PhD at Columbia in the Cellular Engineering and Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Laboratories (2003). After postdoctoral studies (2003-2005) at the National Institutes of Health inthe Cartilage Biology and Orthopaedics Branch, Dr. Mauck developed a new research program in the McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania. His group focuses on the engineering of musculoskeletal tissues, with a particular interest in restoring articular cartilage, the knee meniscus, and the intervertebral disc. Dr. Mauck’s team uses rigorous mechanical and molecular analyses to characterize native tissue structure and function and employs this information to enhance the functional properties of engineered constructs through focused technology development. Specifically, this work employs adult mesenchymal stem cells, custom mechanobiologic culture conditions, and novel cell scaffolding technologies. His work is supported with funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Veterans’ Administration, as well as several private foundations. Dr. Mauck was awarded the 2008 ISSLS Prize in Biomechanics and the 2009 YC Fung Young Investigator Award from the ASME. Dr. Mauck has published more than 60 manuscripts in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.