This is a fundamental engineering study pertaining to the in vitro growth of cartilage. The successful completion of this project will require cooperation among engineers, cellular physiologists and biochemists. The importance of this topic as an emerging engineering technology can not be over stated. Living cartilage tissue grown in vitro will have an enormous impact upon the replacement of defective body parts. This research will induce a known strain upon a section of cartilage grown in vitro and test the cartilage for the synthesis of important molecules related to its structure and/or function. This fundamental study should lead to the production of various forms of cartilage that could ultimately be used for transplantation.
