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TOWARDS SYNTHETIC COLLAGEN FOR REGENERATIVE MEDICINE
Friday, September 9, 2011


Via ScienceDaily: researchers "have unveiled a new method for making
synthetic collagen. The new material, which forms from a liquid in as
little as an hour, has many of the properties of natural collagen and
may prove useful as a scaffold for regenerating new tissues and organs
from stem cells. ... Our final product more closely resembles native
collagen than anything that's previously been made, and we make that
material using a self-assembly process that is remarkably similar to
processes found in nature. ... Collagen, the most abundant protein in
the body, is a key component of many tissues, including skin, tendons,
ligaments, cartilage and blood vessels. Biomedical researchers in the
burgeoning field of regenerative medicine, or tissue engineering,
often use a combination of stem cells and collagen-like materials in
their attempts to create laboratory-grown tissues that can be
transplanted into patients without risk of immunological rejection.
Animal-derived collagen, which has some inherent immunological risks,
is the form of collagen most commonly used in reconstructive and
cosmetic surgery today. ... Despite the abundance of collagen in the
body, deciphering or recreating it has not been easy for scientists.
One reason for this is the complexity collagen exhibits at different
scales. ... Scientists must next determine whether cells can live and
grow in the new material and whether it performs the same way in the
body that native collagen does. ... clinical trials, if they prove
warranted, are at least five years away."