{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.022879464285714284, 'fraction_numerical': 0.00390625, 'mean_word_length': 5.269230769230769, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Tissue engineering today, not tomorrow.

Tissue engineering has tremendous potential for the treatment of a wide range of medical conditions. In combination with this, the developments in the fields of embryonic stem cells (ES) and adult stem cells are leading to a whole new generation of therapies. However, for any treatment to be successful, a number of key issues must be addressed; in particular the choice of cell and scaffold types used and the methods required to overcome immune rejection of any transplant. The 1-day EuroSciCon meeting, at the MI Centre in London, UK, on November 17, 2006, covered the recent advances in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Entitled ‘Tissue Engineering Today, Not Tomorrow’, the meeting drew presenters from throughout Europe and as far afield as Japan. It focused on the key areas of development in stem cell differentiation, scaffold development and immune modulation, each with a clinical setting or scenario in mind. The conference was opened by Dame Julia Polak (Imperial college, London, UK), who gave an interesting overview of the processes involved in developing tissue engineering from the laboratory into the clinic. Specific examples were given for the importance of biochemical and physical microenvironments on ES cell differentiation and how gene overexpression of osterix can induce bone formation. The use of bioglass for bone regeneration and collagen–polyglycolic acid composite scaffolds for bladder tissue engineering were also given. In conclusion, Dame Polak discussed how the fields of stem cells, tissue engineering, gene therapy, nanotechnology and regenerative medicine are all converging for clinical application to save lives. This gave a good introduction to the themes of the remaining talks.