Tissue Engineering

In this field porous scaffold materials based on biodegradable materials are developed on which functional tissue for transplantation can be grown. Once a sufficient number of functional cells is available, the constructed tissue can be implanted in the patient to regenerate missing or damaged tissue. Another possibility is the development of alloplastic scaffolds that can be directly implanted and subsequently populated in situ with the corresponding cell types.

An example for Tissue Engineering is the in vitro growing of skin. This is possible for a long time, but the mechanical stability of such skin flaps is quite low and the transplantation is not always successful. To solve these problems, membranes have been developed as temporary matrices for cells of the epidermis.