Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering aims to restore, maintain or improve tissue and organ function lost due to age, disease, injury or congenital defects.聽This can include stimulating聽the body's own repair mechanisms or assembly of functional tissue constructs聽outside the body.
In addition to applications in regenerative medicine, tissue-engineered constructs are used in a range of other applications, including:
- Drug and cosmetics testing
- Development of artificial meat
- Soft robotics