BioCAD in tissue science and engineering

Tissue Engineering, the science and engineering of creating functional tissues and organs for transplantation, integrates a variety of scientific and engineering disciplines to produce physiologic ldquoreplacement partsrdquo for the development of viable substitutes which restore, maintain or improve the function of human tissues. In the success of tissue engineering, three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds play important roles as extra-cellular matrices onto which cells can attach, grow, and form new tissues. Modeling, design and fabrication of tissue scaffolds to meet multiple biological and biophysical requirements is always a challenge in regenerative tissue engineering. BioCAD in tissue engineering is broadly classified into the following three major applications: 1) computer-aided tissue modeling, including 3D anatomic visualization, 3D reconstruction, computer-aided design (CAD) of tissue models and bio-physical modeling for surgical planning and simulation; 2) computer-aided tissue scaffold informatics and biomimetics; and 3) bio-manufacturing for tissue and organ regeneration.