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Engineering and Analysis of Complex Tissue and Disease Models

Guest Editors: Prof. Michael Raghunath and Prof. Rosalyn D. Abbott

BMC Biomedical Engineering invites you to submit to our new thematic series: Engineering and Analysis of Complex Tissue and Disease Models

New Content ItemOne of the key challenges in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, as outlined by thought leaders during TERMIS 2018, is our limited understanding of biology, rather than the lack of robust bioengineering tools. The future of the filed depends on better tissue models for physiology and disease, real-time functional read-outs for dynamic studies, but also on the continuation of collaborative and interdisciplinary efforts in the community.

Testing effects of drug candidates, environmental pollutants, nutritional components and active compounds in cell culture systems has become a mainstay of drug development and toxicology. A growing need in industry is systems that are cost-effective and can substitute animal experiments. A particular need is increasing the yield of drug testing, with a focus on increased scalability and robustness, allowing for validation, which includes clear descriptions of the limits of the living tissue models to be employed. In addition, societal expectations of animal welfare are informing politics, legislation and regulatory authorities to pave a path towards xeno-free in vitro systems.  

Concurrently, physiological models of disease are required to design better targeted drug therapeutics and optimal dosages for toxicology screening. Depending on the needs, human in vitro models can be constructed with co-cultures of multiple cell types and complex extracellular matrices of natural or synthetic sources with the option to use enhanced resolution 3D printing techniques. Animal models with precise control of genetics can inform systemic and immune effects not possible in vitro. This special issue will explore new approaches and address outstanding challenges in the field of tissue and disease modelling. 

Of key interest for this thematic series include studies that dwell on disease-in-a-dish models, complex organs-on-a-chip and microfluidic models, the incorporation of inflammatory components, 3D bioprinting tissue models, as well as in vivo models of disease (including CRISPR/Cas9).   

We are seeking submissions of original research articles, but also methodology, software and database articles. This collection in BMC Biomedical Engineering will also include invited reviews.

We would welcome direct submission of any original research you would like to be considered. Please submit directly to BMC Biomedical Engineering stating in your cover letter that you are targeting the ‘Engineering and Analysis of Complex Tissue and Disease Models’ collection. Alternatively you can email your pre-submission queries to lingling.tian@biomedcentral.com

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies, including those pertaining to Collections. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The deadline for submission of manuscripts is 30th September 2019

  1. Tendons link muscle to bone and transfer forces necessary for normal movement. Tendon injuries can be debilitating and their intrinsic healing potential is limited. These challenges have motivated the developm...

    Authors: Sophia K. Theodossiou and Nathan R. Schiele
    Citation: BMC Biomedical Engineering 2019 1:32
  2. Organoids derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) or embryonic stem (ES) cells have been evaluated as in vitro models of development and disease. However, maintaining these cells under long-term static cul...

    Authors: Sachiko Sekiya, Tetsutaro Kikuchi and Tatsuya Shimizu
    Citation: BMC Biomedical Engineering 2019 1:15
  3. Therapy resistant ulcers are wounds that remain open for a long time period and often arise from chronic venous disease, prolonged pressure or diabetes. For healing of chronic wounds, revitalization of the ine...

    Authors: Hanneke N. Monsuur, Ester M. Weijers, Susan Gibbs and Lenie J. van den Broek
    Citation: BMC Biomedical Engineering 2019 1:18
  4. Excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition is a hallmark feature in fibrosis and tissue remodelling diseases. Typically, mesenchymal cells will produce collagens under standard 2D cell culture conditions,...

    Authors: Robert B. Good, Jessica D. Eley, Elaine Gower, Genevieve Butt, Andrew D. Blanchard, Andrew J. Fisher and Carmel B. Nanthakumar
    Citation: BMC Biomedical Engineering 2019 1:14