Tissue engineering with stem cells and different types of scaffold

Regenerative medicine aims to restore normal functions by repairing or replacing damaged or malfunctioning cells and tissues in patients. Regenerative medicine includes tissue engineering which combines scaffolds, cells, and biologically active molecules to restore, mantain or improve tissue function. Stem cells are a key component of tissue engineering.

Our laboratory is interested in tissue engineering for osteoarticular disease; actually there are two principal lines of investigation:

(i) evaluation of effectiveness of adipose tissue derived stem cells (ASC) in improving biological viability of degenerated nucleous pulposus cells

(ii) evaluation of adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue (ASC) and  of endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) on 3D biomaterials.

The group collaborates with the Centre for Health Technologies (CHT) of the University of Pavia.

 

Selected Papers

Endothelial progenitor cell adhesion, growth and characterization on trabecular titanium and trabecular titanium coated with collagen or decellularized ECM. Gastaldi G, Caliogna L, Botta L, Ghiara M, Benazzo F. J Biol Regul Homeost Agents. 2015 Oct-Dec;29(4 Suppl):15-24.

Trabecular titanium can induce in vitro osteogenic differentiation of human adipose derived stem cells without osteogenic factors. Benazzo F, Botta L, Scaffino MF, Caliogna L, Marullo M, Fusi S, Gastaldi G. J Biomed Mater Res A. 2014 Jul;102(7):2061-71. doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.34875.

Mammalian aquaglyceroporin function in metabolism. Laforenza U, Bottino C, Gastaldi G. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2016 Jan;1858(1):1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2015.10.004. E