The Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience welcomes Dr. Swee-Hin Teoh, professor of mechanical engineering at the National University of Singapore, on “Bone Tissue Engineering - Bioresorbable Scaffolds in Craniofacial Surgery and Dentistry” as part of IBB's special seminar series.

Abstract:
Tissue engineering (TE) holds the key to body parts replacements. It has been heralded as the new wave to revolutionise the healthcare-biotechnology industry. This is a highly multidisciplinary field and involves the integration of engineering principles, basic life science, and molecular cell biology. The aim of tissue engineering is to restore, maintain, or improve tissue and organ functions with minimal host rejection. Efforts from academia to industry in bioengineering are increasingly being directed towards the use of tissue engineering techniques in the treatment of a broad variety of tissue replacements such as skin, bladder, cartilage, bone and liver. The present talk will focus on the challenges and issues in developing a platform technology which integrates medical imaging and advance manufacturing to produce 3D porous scaffolds for tissue engineering of bone as applied to craniofacial surgery and dentistry. Numerous clinical case studies will be shown. It has been well established, apart from biochemical, mechano-induction of oseoblast to express the appropriate extra cellular matrix (ECM) needs to be addressed in the design of load bearing scaffolds. The material we use is based on the polycaprolactone (PCL) a slow bioresorbable polymer which has been FDA approved and CE marked for a number of clinical applications. The long term (exceeding 3 years) success outcomes in craniofacial and mandible TE will be presented. The design philosophy of creating a bioresorbable scaffold with high surface energy, interconnected porosity that traps cells, growth factors and eventually dissolves into carbon dioxide and water is elaborated. The development of the second generation bioactive PCL will also be presented.