Bioreactor Systems for Tissue Engineering II: Strategies for the Expansion and Directed Differentiation of Stem Cells

First of all, the editors of this special volume would like to thank all the authors for their excellent contributions. We would also like to thank Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheper as well as Dr.Marion Hertel and Ingrid Samide fromSpringer for providing the opportunity to compose this volume and Springer for organizational and technical support. Tissue engineering represents one of the major emerging fields in modern biotechnology. Tissue engineering combines different disciplines ranging from biological and material sciences to engineering and clinical disciplines. The aim of tissue engineering is the development of therapeutic approaches to substitute diseased organs or tissues or improve their function. Stem cells are early progenitors that may substitute diseased tissues or provide cues for endogenous healing. Stem cells are present in virtually all tissues. The first chapters describe different sources of stem cells including isolation and expansion. The use of fetal tissues and umbilical cord is discussed as they come from immunoprivileged sites and are considered to be early stem cells. The use of adipose-derived stem cells is discussed as a readily available autologous source. Subsequently, newer techniques for “manufacturing” stem cells from somatic cells using “induced pluripotent stem cell” technology are discussed and described in two chapters. The following chapter deals with bioreactor cultivation of stem cells. Specific tissues such as cartilage and endothelial precursors built the bridge to the last chapters. In those chapters, clinical applications are the focus of interest. It covers a wide range of clinical applications from veterinary orthopedics and human bone diseases until cardiologic applications. This small overview indicates that we have tried to cover the area of stem cells from isolation, expansion up to clinical applications. The road has been walked already for a substantial distance. However, we are still at the beginning of this exciting new technology.