Bioengineering of the digestive tract: approaching the clinic

The field of regenerative medicine is developing technologies that, in the near future, will offer alternative approaches to either cure diseases affecting the gastrointestinal tract or slow their progression by leveraging the intrinsic ability of our tissues and organs to repair after damage. This article will succinctly illustrate the three technologies that are closer to clinical translation?namely, human intestinal organoids, sphincter bioengineering and decellularization, whereby the cellular compartment of a given segment of the digestive tract is removed to obtain a scaffold consisting of the extracellular matrix. The latter will be used as a template for the regeneration of a functional organ, whereby the newly generated cellular compartment will be obtained from the patient?s own cells. Although clinical application of this technology is approaching, product development challenges are being tackled to warrant safety and efficacy. ? 2021 International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Characterization of a pluripotent stem cell-derived matrix with powerful osteoregenerative capabilities

Production of a safe and manufacturable material to mimic anabolic bone for tissue engineering has been hard to achieve to date. Here the authors use a mesenchymal stem cell line generated from induced pluripotent stem cells to produce osteogenic cell-matrix, displaying significant healing properties in mice

Regenerative medicine technologies applied to transplant medicine. An update

Regenerative medicine (RM) is changing how we think and practice transplant medicine. In regenerative medicine, the aim is to develop and employ methods to regenerate, restore or replace damaged/diseased tissues or organs. Regenerative medicine investigates using tools such as novel technologies or techniques, extracellular vesicles, cell-based therapies, and tissue-engineered constructs to design effective patient-specific treatments. This review illustrates current advancements in regenerative medicine that may pertain to transplant medicine. We highlight progress made and various tools designed and employed specifically for each tissue or organ, such as the kidney, heart, liver, lung, vasculature, gastrointestinal tract, and pancreas. By combing both fields of transplant and regenerative medicine, we can harbor a successful collaboration that would be beneficial and efficacious for the repair and design of de novo engineered whole organs for transplantations