Tissue Engineering

The field of tissue engineering developed to address the shortage of tissues available for repair and transplantation strategies. At Yale, we are working to develop functional engineered tissues for vascular grafts and arteries, spinal cord repair, liver transplantation, and immune engineering.

The team of researchers from the School of Engineering & Applied Science and the Medical School meet regularly as part of the Tissue Engineering Group to discuss their work. The collaborations between the clinicians and basic scientists are making the translation of tissue engineering technologies possible.

Dr. Breuer is working to engineer vascular grafts for pediatric patients. Dr. Niklason is developing engineered arteries for coronary bypass procedures. Dr. Kyriakides is looking at how the materials used in these structures affect the body and the healing process. Dr. Madri is using novel tissue engineered scaffolds for nerve regeneration. Drs. Saltzman, Pober, and Bothwell are working toward the creation of engineered pancreatic islets. We have experts in polymers, scaffold fabrication, drug delivery systems, nanotechnology, cellular and molecular biology working together to engineer new three-dimensional tissues.

Tissue engineering requires great collaborations and expertise in surgery, biomaterials, cell biology, and drug delivery. The collaborations in the Tissue Engineering Group and Vascular Biology and Transplantation Program bring together the scientists, engineers, surgeons, and physicians to develop new approaches to tissue replacement and repair.

Faculty involved with research:

W. Mark Saltzman
– BME
– ChE & EnvE

Jay Humphrey
– BME

Laura Niklason
– BME
– Anesthesiology

Themis R. Kyriakides
– BME
– Pathology

Tarek Fahmy
– BME
– ChE & EnvE

Anjelica Gonzalez
– BME

Jordan Pober
– Immunobiology

Paul Van Tassel
– ChE & EnvE

Alfred Bothwell
– Immunobiology