This award supported by the Biotechnology, Biochemical and Biomass Engineering Program along with the Biophotonics Program in the Chemical, Bioengineering Environmental and Transport Division of NSF will fund a workshop on 'Functional imaging for regenerative medicine (FIRM)' that will identify areas of opportunity, and stimulate new collaborations and applications of cutting edge imaging methods in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM). The meeting outcomes are expected to help shape the future of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine research. Session Topics will include: (1) Cellular Function in vitro: High Resolution Single Cell Imaging, (2) Cellular Function in vivo: In Vivo Cell Imaging, (3) Tissue Grafts: Macroscopic Imaging, and (4) Regenerating Whole Organs: Whole Body Imaging.
Intellectual Merit - The main objective of the workshop is to foster cutting-edge imaging for application in TERM. Toward this goal, the workshop will bring together the leaders from the TERM and imaging communities for cross-fertilization of ideas and practical approaches. The workshop aims to accelerate development and adoption of advanced imaging methodologies and tools by identifying current needs of tissue engineers, from the molecular to the macroscopic scales, and consider approaches to meet those needs, with a focus on functional, noninvasive methods appropriate for in vitro and in vivo TERM work. The participants include members of academia, industry, and government with interests in TERM, imaging, and especially the application of imaging methods in TERM.
Broader Impacts - Tissue Science and Engineering uses physical, chemical, biological, and engineering processes to control and direct the aggregate behavior of cells. Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine therapies have tremendous promise for generating non-immunogenic organ replacements or specifically promote healing and regeneration of tissues. Already there have been demonstrations that stem cell- and bioengineering-based strategies can be used in-vivo to regenerate heart, nerve, pancreatic islets, bladder and lung tissues, with autologous skin replacements under development. Additionally, stem cell and bioengineering technologies are also being employed toward generating in vitro three dimensional model systems that mimic human tissues and organs closely enough to be used for toxicity screening and drug development. While these therapies and model systems show exceptional promise, there remain significant barriers to their commercialization and widespread use to a large extent because of the difficulties in precise real-time monitoring and manipulation of these processes in vitro and in vivo in time and space. A particular challenge is to be able to evaluate cell potency and what characteristics of cells in culture are predictors of their fate in vivo. Novel multimodal imaging methods will be important for understanding the in vitro - in vivo transition.
Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (TERM) are continuing to rapidly advance and change the way we currently treat the loss of tissues and their function. Further progress in these two fields is increasingly dependent on advances in imaging and image analysis, both in the design of novel treatment modalities and in the monitoring of their outcomes. Meanwhile, many areas of imaging science and technology have undergone transformative changes in recent years that are not always reflected in applications to TERM problems. Overall, there is a clear and growing need for the TERM and imaging communities to more effectively interact, in order to accelerate the development of new imaging modalities and their application in the broad field of TERM. In order to foster collaboration, cross-fertilization of ideas, and application of cutting-edge imaging in (TERM), the Multi-Agency Tissue Engineering Science (MATES) Working Group has sponsored a two-day workshop that brought together the leaders from the TERM and imaging communities, and about 300 participants from academia, industry, clinical arena, and government organizations. The workshop identified current issues in TERM, from the molecular to the macroscopic scales, and focused on current and future imaging-based approaches to meet these needs. The format of the meeting included two overview plenary talks by the meeting chairs Dr Vunjak-Novakovic (TERM expert) and Dr Weissleder (imaging expert), followed by a series of nineteen invited talks that were organized in three main sessions: (i) Cellular function in vitro, (ii) Cellular function in vivo, and (iii) Whole organs. In each session, a group of TERM and imaging experts were giving talks in an interactive setting, with ample time for discussion. In parallel, the attendees were also presenting posters related to their work in imaging or regenerative medicine. At the end of the meeting, a moderated panel discussion was organized to identify key challenges and emerging opportunities for the TERM and imaging fields to synergistically drive further progress. We are now working on a position article for a major journal in the field to make the workshop outcomes available to the broad scientific community and general public.
