Transcriptomics resources of human tissues and organs

Quantifying the differential expression of genes in various human organs, tissues, and cell types is vital to understand human physiology and disease. Recently, several large-scale transcriptomics studies have analyzed the expression of protein-coding genes across tissues. These datasets provide a framework for defining the molecular constituents of the human body as well as for generating comprehensive lists of proteins expressed across tissues or in a tissue-restricted manner. Here, we review publicly available human transcriptome resources and discuss body-wide data from independent genome-wide transcriptome analyses of different tissues. Gene expression measurements from these independent datasets, generated using samples from fresh frozen surgical specimens and postmortem tissues, are consistent. Overall, the different genome-wide analyses support a distribution in which many proteins are found in all tissues and relatively few in a tissue-restricted manner. Moreover, we discuss the applications of publicly available omics data for building genome-scale metabolic models, used for analyzing cell and tissue functions both in physiological and in disease contexts

Editorial foreword: Angiogenesis: Cells, tissues and organs

On the occasion of his 90th birthday, this Special Issue is dedicated to Professor Robert Auerbach. Born 1929 in Berlin, Germany, he and his family escaped Nazi Germany in 1939 and emigrated to the United States, where he became a zoologist and ultimately Professor and Director of the Developmental Biology Training Program at the Department of Zoology, Madison, University of Wisconsin, USA. In Auerbach's laboratory, students and scientists of many different nations, including politically persecuted ones, harmoniously worked together on different aspects of angiogenesis. One of the hallmarks of Auerbach's career as a scientist was and is his generosity towards others, sharing his equipment and ideas freely, his integrity and his collegiality. His significant contributions to angiogenesis and tumour research include the finding that angiogenesis in tumours can occur even after their irradiation (Auerbach, Arensman, Kubai, & Folkman, 1975) and an explanation of organ selectivity in the spread of metastasizing cancer cells (Auerbach, 1988). Through his outstanding papers on in vitro methods in angiogenesis research, he also supported animal welfare (Alby & Auerbach, 1984; Auerbach, Lewis, Shinners, Kubai, & Akhtar, 2003; Gumkowski, Kaminska, Kaminski, Morrissey, & Auerbach, 1987; Obeso, Weber, & Auerbach, 1990)

Three-dimensional bioprinting of volumetric tissues and organs

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting has become a fast-developing research field in the last few years. Many different technical solutions are available, with extrusion-based printing being the most promising and versatile method. In addition, a variety of biomaterials are already available for 3D printing of live cells. The real challenge, however, remains bioprinting of macroscopic, volumetric constructs of well-defined structures since hydrogels used for cell-embedding must consist of rather soft materials. This article describes recent developments to overcome these limitations that prevent clinical applications of bioprinted human tissues. New approaches include technical solutions such as in situ cross-linking or gelation processes that now can be performed during the bioprinting process, modified bioinks that combine suitable viscosity and cytocompatible gelation mechanisms, and utilization of additional materials to provide mechanical strength to the cell-laden constructs

Phage-displayed peptides targeting specific tissues and organs

AbstractPhage display is a powerful and widely used technique to find novel peptide ligands. A massive amount of peptide sequences have been identified for all kinds of materials, and peptides that..

Regeneration of Tissues and Organs Using Autologous Cells

The proposed work aims to address three major challenges to the field of regenerative medicine: 1) the growth and expansion of regenerative cells outside the body in controlled in vitro environments, 2) supportive vascular supply for large tissue engineered constructs, and 3) interactive biomaterials that can orchestrate tissue development in vivo. Toward this goal, we have engaged a team of scientists with expertise in cell and molecular biology, physiology, biomaterials, controlled release, nanomaterials, tissue engineering, bioengineering, and clinical medicine to address all three challenges. This combination of resources, combined with the vast infrastructure of the WFIRM, have brought to bear on projects to discover and test new sources of autologous cells that can be used therapeutically, novel methods to improve vascular support for engineered tissues in vivo, and to develop intelligent biomaterials and bioreactor systems that interact favorably with stem and progenitor cells to drive tissue maturation. The Instituteâs ongoing programs are aimed at developing regenerative medicine technologies that employ a patientâs own cells to help restore or replace tissue and organ function. This DOE program has provided a means to solve some of the vexing problems that are germane to many tissue engineering applications, regardless of tissue type or target disease. By providing new methods that are the underpinning of tissue engineering, this program facilitated advances that can be applied to conditions including heart disease, diabetes, renal failure, nerve damage, vascular disease, and cancer, to name a few. These types of conditions affect millions of Americans at a cost of more than $400 billion annually. Regenerative medicine holds the promise of harnessing the bodyâs own power to heal itself. By addressing the fundamental challenges of this field in a comprehensive and focused fashion, this DOE program has opened new opportunities to treat conditions where other approaches have failed

From nano to macro: Enabling Nanotechnologies for Human Organ Biofabrication (Electrospun Nanofibers and Hybrid Technique)

This review proposes to present how materials at nanolevel scale can contribute to the development of three-dimensional (3D) structures, human tissues, and organs which have macrolevel organization. Specific nanomaterials such as nanofibers and nanoparticles are presented and discussed in their application for biofabricating 3D human tissues and organs. The concept of self-assembling magnetic tissue spheroids as an intermediate mesolevel structure between nano and macrolevel organization and building blocks for biofabrication in dual scale level of complex 3D human tissues and organs is detached. The challenges and perspectives of employing nanomaterials and nanotechnological strategies in the biofabrication were also traced

Nanotechnological strategies for biofabrication of human organs

Nanotechnology is a rapidly emerging technology dealing with so-called nanomaterials which at least in one dimension have size smaller than 100nm. One of the most potentially promising applications of nanotechnology is in the area of tissue engineering, including biofabrication of 3D human tissues and organs. This paper focused on demonstrating how nanomaterials with nanolevel size can contribute to development of 3D human tissues and organs which have macrolevel organization. Specific nanomaterials such as nanofibers and nanoparticles are discussed in the context of their application for biofabricating 3D human tissues and organs. Several examples of novel tissue and organ biofabrication technologies based on using novel nanomaterials are presented and their recent limitations are analyzed. A robotic device for fabrication of compliant composite electrospun vascular graft is described. The concept of self-assembling magnetic tissue spheroids as an intermediate structure between nano- and macrolevel organization and building blocks for biofabrication of complex 3D human tissues and organs is introduced. The design of in vivo robotic bioprinter based on this concept and magnetic levitation of tissue spheroids labeled with magnetic nanoparticles is presented. The challenges and future prospects of applying nanomaterials and nanotechnological strategies in organ biofabrication are outlined.publishersversionPeer reviewe