searchthis sitegatech

Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering

Press Releases

Engineers Create Bone that Blends into Tendons

(August 29, 2008) — Engineers at Georgia Tech have used skin cells to create artificial bones that mimic the ability of natural bone to blend into other tissues such as tendons or ligaments. The artificial bones display a gradual change from bone to softer tissue rather than the sudden shift of previously developed artificial tissue, providing better integration with the body and allowing them to handle weight more successfully. The research appears in the August 26, 2008, edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Drug-embedded Microparticles Bolster Heart Function in Animal Studies

(October 23, 2008) — Researchers at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology have developed tiny polymer beads that can slowly release anti-inflammatory drugs and break down into non-toxic components. When injected into rats' hearts after a simulated heart attack, the drug-embedded "microparticles" reduce inflammation and scarring, the researchers found.

New Titanium Coating Improves Joint Replacements

(July 1, 2008) — Research at the Georgia Institute of Technology shows that coating a titanium implant with a new biologically inspired material enhances tissue healing, improves bone growth around the implant and strengthens the attachment and integration of the implant to the bone. "We designed a coating that specifically communicates with cells and we're telling the cells to grow bone around the implant," said Andrés Garcia, professor and Woodruff Faculty Fellow in Georgia Tech's Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience.

New Class of Fluorescent Dyes Detects Reactive Oxygen Species

(December 15, 2008) — Researchers have created a new family of fluorescent probes called hydrocyanines that can be used to detect and measure the presence of reactive oxygen species. Reactive oxygen species are highly reactive metabolites of oxygen that have been implicated in a variety of inflammatory diseases, including cancer and atherosclerosis.

Polymer with Neurotransmitter Promotes Nerve Growth
Strategy encourages regeneration of damaged central nervous system cells

December 11, 2007 — Georgia Tech researchers reported a potential strategy for encouraging the regeneration of damaged central nervous system cells known as neurons. The technique would use a biodegradable polymer containing a chemical group that mimics the neurotransmitter acetylcholine to spur the growth of neurites, which are projections that form the connections among neurons and between neurons and other cells. The biomimetic polymers would then guide the growth of the regenerating nerve.

Georgia Tech/Emory Center (GTEC) for the Engineering of Living Tissues

The Georgia Tech/Emory Center (GTEC) for the Engineering of Living Tissues is headquartered in the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, with strong interactions with Emory University School of Medicine. Established in 1998 by the National Science Foundation as an Engineering Research Center, GTEC's mission is to be the leader in the development of critical core technologies and an educated workforce that will enable the development of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and revolutionize the medical implant industry.

Defining Regenerative Medicine

GTEC is internationally recognized for its strengths and novel applications of Regenerative Medicine. GTEC's success is built on the long-standing partnership between Georgia Tech, a top-ranked engineering school and Emory University, one of the nation's finest medical schools. Both institutions are consistently in the top rankings by U.S. News and World Report.

This unique partnership has allowed GTEC to build a cohesive team of scientists and clinicians with diverse areas of expertise, who have a shared mission of understanding how tissues are formed and are dedicated to a larger goal of how they can be regenerated or repaired.

The promise of regenerative medicine is truly remarkable. Over the last two decades, significant breakthroughs in understanding within the regenerative medicine and tissue engineering fields have yielded a more intimate understanding of the functioning of human tissue. In the future, new technologies may deliver islet cells for diabetes, neural regeneration for spinal cord injuries and more substantial heart repair. In addition, as biology, bioengineering and medicine continue to converge, the regenerative medicine field may succeed in building three dimensional organs like hearts, kidneys or livers. An investment in this field is an investment in medical research and the U.S. healthcare system. We view regenerative medicine as a one of the areas that will help the US gain a stronger, more competitive economic future and be the leader on the world stage.

When founded in 1998, GTEC's focus was on replacement of tissues or growing cell-based substitutes outside the body for implantation into the body. As GTEC has evolved over the last decade, its approach has broadened from a focus on tissue engineering to one that includes repair and regeneration. This broadening into regenerative medicine is necessary due to the biological complexity of many tissues and organs. Through this evolution, GTEC has maintained its goal of developing technologies necessary for cell-based therapies, however, the center now takes several different approaches by incorporating repair and regeneration in addition to replacement.

GTEC Strategic Goals

  • Develop clinically relevant technologies critical to the regenerative medicine field on a relevant scale.
  • Build a multidisciplinary and integrated team of faculty which builds on the engineering strengths of Georgia Tech and the medical expertise of Emory.
  • Partner with industry to serve the varied needs of the growing regenerative medicine industry.

GTEC Research Strengths

  • Regenerative Capacity and Stem Cells
  • Multifunctional Materials
  • Composite Tissue Regeneration
  • Functional Imaging

Robert M. Nerem, PhD

Director, Georgia Tech/Emory Center (GTEC) for the Engineering of Living Tissues
Phone: 404-894-2768

Ravi Bellamkonda, PhD

GTEC Co-Deputy Director for Research
Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering
Email
Website

W. Robert Taylor, MD, PhD

GTEC Co-Deputy Director for Research
Emory University, School of Medicine
Email
Website

Katharine Montgomery

GTEC Manager for Industrial Relations & Technology Transfer
Phone: 404-385-2105