In vitro human tissue models - moving towards personalized regenerative medicine

The field of tissue engineering is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field within regenerative medicine involving biology, chemistry, physics, engineering and medical sciences, which focuses on the fabrication of replacement tissues and organs. Another major focus of tissue engineering is the creation of ex vivo-manufactured multi-organ test systems, in order to explore fundamental questions of cell. matrix and developmental biology. These ex-vivo manufactured systems can also be used to study drug delivery dynamics. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.