L. Visai
University of Pavia
Itlay
Title: Scaffolds, stem cells, biophysical stimulations and nanotechnology in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine
Biography
Biography: L. Visai
Abstract
Recent advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have shown that controlling cells micro-environment during growth is a key element to the development of successful therapeutic system. Various polymeric scaffolds have been used to support cellular growth and, to a certain extent, favor cell organization and tissue structure. A large pool of stem cell lines such as multipotent and pluripotent stem cells lines are available for these type of studies. Furthermore, the exposure of stem cells to biophysical stimuli has been reported to favor early and rapid activation of the tissue repair process. But all of these approaches has appeared to be rather limited since they do not offer the fine control of the cell micro-environment in space and time. We will be presenting the biological effects exerted by electrospun nanocomposite materials on tuning the cell fate of human multipotent and pluripotent stem cells. Then, we will continue by presenting the effects related to the exposure of human multipotent stem cells to Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) or Low Level Laser Intensity (LLLI) on cell proliferation and differentiation towards osteoblasts. At the end, we will show the recent data obtained in the design of 3D scaffolds based on hydrogels as well as polymeric fibers to maintain the self- renewal of human pluripotent stem cells in feeder-free conditions.