Biopolymer Methods in Tissue Engineering. Methods in Molecular Biology, Volume 238. (Electronic book text)

Because the rapidly developing field of tissue engineering encompasses all the major scientific disciplines-including materials science, polymer chemistry, biology, and medicine-it has often been difficult to uncover the full range of laboratory methods required in tissue engineering. In Biopolymer Methods in Tissue Engineering, expert laboratory researchers bring together in a standard format all the diverse laboratory methods needed to perform state-of-the-art tissue engineering research. Topics range from the synthesis, processing, and characterization of specific biomaterials, through the successful use of scaffolds in the engineering of tissues, to techniques useful in evaluating the biological quality of scaffold-engineered tissues. Subjects of special interest include the incorporation of biological molecules into scaffold biomaterials and the use of a wide range of methods and techniques to generate a comprehensive description of cell-polymer construct quality. Additional techniques can be used to develop effective in vitro models for drug evaluation or to investigate cell and tissue differentiation. Each readily reproducible protocol follows a uniform format that includes essential background information, step-by-step instructions by an expert, equipment and reagent lists, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and state-of-the-art, Biopolymer Methods in Tissue Engineering offers both advanced and novice investigators a diverse collection of readily reproducible techniques for generating living cell-polymer constructs in their laboratories and for evaluating their biological quality.