Tissue engineering – a fast-growing field for advancement of medicine

Tissue engineering, broadly described as the combination of cells, engineering methods and biochemical factors to create living biological tissue, is a fast-growing field that has the potential to significantly accelerate the advancement of medicine.

In IDTechEx’s new report, Tissue Engineering 2018 – 2028: Technologies, Markets, Forecasts, the market for engineered living tissues is forecasted to reach $4.8 billion by the year 2028.

The most obvious application of tissue engineering is in regenerative medicine, a branch of medicine that seeks to repair or replace damaged or diseased cells and tissues. Since the late 1990s, engineered skin grafts have been used to help accelerate the healing process for patients with advanced wounds such as diabetic foot and venous leg ulcers, and serious burns. Similarly, engineered cartilage grafts have been used for over a decade to repair defects in patients’ knees. We can imagine that in the far future, patients will be able to receive engineered organs, rather than wait for a matching organ to become available for transplant.