Extracellular Matrix for Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials

This volume provides a state-of-art-report on the new methodologies in tissue engineering and developments in the biomaterials field based on the extracellular matrix-relevant discovery. Extracellular Matrix for Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials opens with an overview of the latest extracellular matrix research and in Part I, focuses on its biology and its role on cell behavior and cell fate relevant for the design of biomimetic surfaces. Part II details issues regarding the strategies currently applied in the research of biologically inspired materials and material systems for the replacement, repair and regeneration of tissues and organs. Part III presents the latest development methods applying knowledge from biology towards nanotechnology, to promote the restoration of the functionality of a living tissue. The book ranges from fundamental biology associated with tissue regeneration for the development of biomimetic approaches to controlling tissue formation, cell function, differentiation and angiogenesis using factors involved in normal tissue development and function. With the breadth and depth of the coverage of this topic, this book will serve as a valuable reference for anyone working in tissue engineering or biomaterials – from scientists, chemists and biologists through physicists, bioengineers and clinicians.

Anna C Berardi currently serves as the head of the Stem Cells Laboratory, and she is also the Head of the Research and Development Laboratory in the U.O.C. of Immunohematology, Transfusion Medicine and Hematology Laboratory at the Pescara Civil Hospital. She completed her Ph.D. in Dr. David Scadden’s laboratory at the Research Laboratory Hematology/Oncology of New England Deaconess Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. She did post-doc work at Dr. William Vainchenker’s Laboratory at the Research of Hematology and Stem Cells, Institut Gustave-Roussy, Villejuif, Paris, and also worked at the Laboratory of Molecular Citology in the Center of Advanced Biotechnologies, Genoa. She was P.I. at the Laboratory of Haematology-Oncology, National Health Institute, Rome before serving as Head of the research laboratory on Stem Cells at the Onco-Haematology Department at Clinic Institute Humanitas, Rozzano, Milan and Head of the “Stem Cells” Laboratory Bambino Gesu, Children Hospital, Rome. She was Visiting Professor at the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Dr. Berardi has devoted her career largely to biomedical research towards hematopoietic stem cells biology, including tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and stem cells technology. Through cutting-edge technologies and broadly collaborative approaches, she is also committed to training the new generation of stem cell biologists and to building a strong, unique and competitive stem cell research program that will ultimately benefit patients.