Workshop: Functional Imaging for Regenerative Medicine, May 31 - June 1, 2012, Gaithersburg, MD

1242233/ Vunjak-Novakovic

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.