Authors: Robert P. Lanza, Robert Langer, William L. Chick, William Chick (Editor)
Publishing: Landes Bioscience
Published: 1997 January
The depth and breadth of opportunity that tissue engineering provides for medicine is extraordinary. In the U.S. alone, it is estimated that nearly half-a-trillion dollars are spent each year to care for patients who suffer either tissue loss or end-stage organ failure. Although individual papers on various aspects of tissue engineering abound, no previous work has satisfactorily integrated this new interdisciplinary subject area. This book combines in one volume the prerequisites for a general understanding of tissue growth and development, the tools and theoretical information needed to design tissues and organs, as well as a presentation of applications of tissue engineering to diseases affecting specific organ systems. The book strikes a balance among the diversity of subjects that are related to tissue engineering, including biology, chemistry, material science, engineering, immunology and transplantation among others, while emphasizing those research areas that are likely to be of most value to medicine in the future.