Sometimes, Trends in Biotechnology only pretends to be a life sciences journal: it is as likely to cover cold plasma for food sustainability or red yeasts as chemical factories as genome editing or protein drugs. At other times, though, its scope more clearly overlaps with the exciting biological research that Cell Press is known for. One of TIBTECH’s clearest opportunities for collaboration comes from Cell Stem Cell, with our shared interests in organ models, translational cell therapies, and tissue engineering.
The basic scientific idea behind the tissue engineering field is that human stem cells, under the correct conditions, can become virtually any other type of cell in a process called differentiation. Get enough stem cells to do that in concert and on demand, and it becomes possible to generate entire tissues, which can, in principle, be used to replace damaged organs or other parts of the body, or study how drugs might interact with biological targets. There are two big challenges here: not only do we have to understand the biological processes of differentiation and cellular interaction at a fundamental level so we can get cells and tissues to do what we want them to, but we also have to apply those principles rigorously and reproducibly enough that we can predict how the fabricated construct will actually behave. Think of it as a biological challenge combined with an engineering challenge—a perfect set of challenges for Trends in Biotechnology and Cell Stem Cell to tackle together.
So when Cell Stem Cell reviews editor Anh Nguyen got in touch with TIBTECH editor Matt Pavlovich to revive an old idea for a joint special issue on tissue engineering, the stage was set for a comprehensive, up-to-date look at where the field stands. Just like Ella and Faby did last year for Cell Host and Microbe‘s joint issue with Immunity on microbes in the mucosa, we have spent the past year gathering the most interesting topics, authors, and insights into how to engineer tissues for regenerative therapies.
The result is twenty review and perspective articles that span an impressive breadth of stage of research, from basic stem cell biology through technological innovations toward clinical implementation; author diversity, including some of the field’s undisputed leaders in addition to its newest faces and rising stars; and scientific discipline, touching on biomaterials, imaging, developmental biology, pharmacology, and even biophysics. While, as you might expect, TIBTECH’s selections tend to focus more on technology platforms, and Cell Stem Cell‘s on fundamental biology and clinical translation, we see these articles more as a joint collection common to both of our journals and, hopefully, equally interesting to both of our communities.
Our issues are both available today, and we hope our readers will find the idea exciting enough to peruse both Cell Stem Cell and Trends in Biotechnology. Here are just a few highlights: in Trends in Biotechnology, you can learn how to 3D print bacteria, why SpaceX might want to consider a tissue engineering module for a future Falcon Heavy launch, and what makes the pancreas such an attractive target for bioengineering—not to mention how close we are to creating an entire lab-grown pancreas for human implantation. In Cell Stem Cell, you can learn about the potential of Organs-on-a-Chip to revolutionize the way drugs are developed, and how the combination of stem cells and biotechnology can repair much needed organs and tissues, such as bones and blood vessels.
One early pioneer of the idea of tissue engineering was MIT’s Robert Langer, who wrote a seminal perspective article (aptly titled “Tissue Engineering”) twenty-five years ago, a time when it was difficult to be taken seriously by suggesting that biology and engineering should have anything to do with each other. Today, Langer sits on TIBTECH’s editorial board and provides his views on mentoring the next generation of biologist-engineers in this issue of Cell Stem Cell. We’re particularly interested in fostering a deeper sense of collaboration between the stem cell biology and bioengineering communities. And we’re fortunate to be editors in a time when engineers and biologists are increasingly speaking the same languages and understanding what each other has to offer.
We hope you will enjoy our joint special issues and find these articles as fascinating, groundbreaking, and forward-thinking as we have.
