A biomedical engineering researcher at The Johns Hopkins University who is developing an innovative way to repair ailing knees and other joints has been cited as a global leader in the field of injectable tissue engineering by Technology Review, MIT's magazine of innovation.
The magazine's February 2003 issue, on newsstands Jan. 21, spotlights 10 emerging technologies that the magazine's editors believe will dramatically change the world. Among these, the magazine spotlights the research being conducted by Jennifer Elisseeff, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins. She and her colleagues have used an injectable system to grow cartilage in mice. The team inserts a mixture of polymers, cells and growth stimulators under the skin, then shines an ultraviolet light through the skin, causing the polymers to harden and encapsulate the cells. Eventually, the cells multiply and develop into new cartilage. Elisseeff and her colleagues hope to refine this technology to a point where it can be used to repair injured or defective joints in human patients.
"Elisseeff is part of a growing movement that is pushing the bounds of tissue engineering, a field researchers have long hoped would produce lab-grown alternatives to transplanted organs and tissues," the Technology Review article states. Technology Review is the world's oldest technology magazine, delivering information about emerging technologies on the verge of commercialization. Since 1998 its paid circulation has more than tripled, climbing from 92,000 to 315,000.
The Technology Review article about Elisseeff can be read online.
Also online is a Johns Hopkins news release about how Elisseeff is using adult stem cells in her research.
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