Dear Colleagues,

The concept of tissue engineering scaffolds has different meanings for different subdisciplines, ranging from essentially inert to essentially functional. Undoubtedly, there are important cell biology cues that scaffolds can orchestrate and which could, for example, spawn a generation of scaffolds with ancillary medical actions. There are also structures and functional requirements that are now increasingly recognized. Arguably, the recent diversification of clinical scaffold products reflects the understanding of the need for hierarchical structure and porosity tuned to specific clinical applications. This is reflected by the current array of different types of the scaffold and correspondingly diverse manufacturing methods. Advances in scaffold technologies can be usefully viewed through the lens of effective clinical therapy. It is incumbent on the community as a whole to bring effective, expedient, and affordable tissue-engineering-inspired approaches through the translational pathway to clinical and commercial reality, to address the massive global need for affordable treatments. This view involves major challenges, and this means that there are opportunities for achieving these goals. These exist throughout the R&D pathway, from concept mining and invention, and effective proof-of-concept studies to clinical manufacturing translation, including process efficiencies and regulatory strategy; and, not least of all, effective and robust trial design to support clinical translation.

This Special Issue is open to any contribution which addresses the theme of advanced scaffolds, especially those that impact on the need to bring effective technologies to produce the widest public benefit. Topics include, but are not limited to the following:

Keywords:

• Scaffold biomaterials including proteins, polysaccharides, polymers, metals, ceramics and composites

• Scaffold fabrication techniques, including electrospinning, phase separation and 3D printing

• Structure-function relationship studies in tissue engineering

• Reconstructive and therapeutic tissue engineering, cell encapsulation, and disease biology models

• Decellularisation and recellularization technologies in tissue engineering

• Specialized topics including organ-on-chip models, modular tissue engineering, interfacial/junctional tissue engineering.

The first round submission deadline: 31 October 2017

Dr. Julian F. Dye
Dr. Naresh Kasoju
Guest Editors

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