Nanotechnology in the Regeneration of Complex Tissues

Modern medicine faces a growing crisis as demand for organ transplantations continues to far outstrip supply. By stimulating the body’s own repair mechanisms, regenerative medicine aims to reduce demand for organs, while the closely related field of tissue engineering promises to deliver “off-the-self” organs grown from patients’ own stem cells to improve supply. To deliver on these promises, we must have reliable means of generating complex tissues. Thus far, the majority of successful tissue engineering approaches have relied on macroporous scaffolds to provide cells with both mechanical support and differentiative cues. In order to engineer complex tissues, greater attention must be paid to nanoscale cues present in a cell’s microenvironment. As the extracellular matrix is capable of driving complexity during development, it must be understood and reproduced in order to recapitulate complexity in engineered tissues. This review will summarize current progress in engineering complex tissue through the integration of nanocomposites and biomimetic scaffolds.