Advancing Regenerative Medicine Through the Development of Scaffold, Cell Biology, Biomaterials and Strategies of Smart Material

Cells are fundamental building block in the human body that can be refitted using various technologies and concepts in regenerative medicine to stimulate new functional tissue for disease treatment as well as aid in biomedical problems. By understanding the molecular genetics of cells and human system, strategic approaches are developed through application of stem cell, gene therapy, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment as well as tissue engineering. In this review, we describe the fundamentals of regenerative medicine and their development in regeneration of cells and tissues as well as discuss the current use of biomaterials in tissue engineering application and its direction in future research. These strategies are advantageous as they are able to provide contemporary solutions by focusing on cures rather than treatment for complex diseases. Advancement in tissue engineering also led to the fabrication of various biomaterials and scaffolds with enhanced ability to mimic and control the internal cellular microenvironment of the original tissue, which are non-reproducible with synthetic materials. Indeed, new generation smart or intelligent biomaterials have symbiotic relationship with living tissues for improved outcomes. Smart biomaterials display excellent biocompatibility in vivo tissue repair, which substantially enhance tissue engineering and regenerative medicine efficacy. Cell and tissue regeneration are important aspects in regenerative medicine, which composes of specific cell and gene treatment to aid in tissue repair. Meanwhile, tissue engineering is the main subject of this review which focuses on developing substitutes to the damaged tissues by employing various potential biomaterials with diverse scaffold architecture. However, limitations in current biomaterials brought the development of smart biomaterials which is the way forward in regenerative medicine applications.