Tracks
Bioimaging Chair: Prof Kishore Bhakoo
Stem cell research is undergoing a critical transition from being a discipline of the basic sciences to being recognized as a potential component of medical practice. Cell transplants to replace cells lost due to injury or degenerative diseases, for which there are currently no cures, are being pursued in a wide range of experimental models.
Moreover, stem cell therapy for degenerative disease is now a clinical reality. However, a key question in cell-based therapy is to assess the migration and retention of these transplanted at the site of injury. Moreover, there is a need to develop non-invasive technologies to assess their in vivo efficacy. Thus, SBIC is developing cell-tracking methodologies that can be used in long-term pre-clinical studies as well as translating these technologies to a clinical environment.
In this short review, an attempt will be made to summarize the latest advances in the field of molecular imaging of stem cell transplantation and describe various cell labeling and imaging techniques.
Once implanted, it is clear that the migrational dynamics of cells will determine the extent of tissue regeneration at the site of implantation and surrounding tissue. Methods for monitoring implanted cells non-invasively in vivo will greatly facilitate the clinical realization and optimization of the opportunities for cell-based therapies. Due to the seamless integration into the host parenchyma, and migration over long distances, cell grafts cannot be detected based on their mass morphology alone. To monitor cell migration and positional fate after transplantation, current models use either reporter genes or chimeric animals. These methods are cumbersome, involve sacrifice of the animal and removal of tissue for histological procedures, and cannot be translated to human studies. However, this approach lacks the temporal analysis of the donor cells, so, in practices its uses are limited. The monitoring of stem cell grafts, non-invasively, is an important aspect of the ongoing efficiency and safety assessment of cell based therapies. Molecular imaging is potentially well suited for such an application. However, for transplanted cells to be visualized and tracked by imaging technologies, they need to be tagged so that they are 'visible'. Moreover, imaging and biosensor technologies are moving from diagnostic towards therapeutic and interventional roles.
Biomaterials Chair: Prof Mayasari Lim
The development of biomaterials over the last 50 years has facilitated clinical therapies in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Despite significant progress, challenges remain for the development of new and improved implant materials for bettering human condition. In the recent years, advances in nanotechnology have introduced new understandings at the cellular and molecular level shifting the paradigms in cell-material interactions.
This track focuses on the presentation and discussion of the most recent scientific discoveries and development in the field of biomaterials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
Bioreactors Chair: Prof Toh Siew Lok
In tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, in-vitro conditioning of cells is critical to permit their differentiation, proliferation and organization into tissue-like structures with functional properties. During in-vitro conditioning, bioreactors can be used to exert external stimuli such as mechanical strains, hydrodynamic pressure and shear, electromagnetic fields that will facilitate matrix deposition and tissue organization, and improve quantitative measures of tissue function. The proposed topic BIOREACTOR will include research presentations that describe the development and testing of bioreactors for regeneration of a large range of musculoskeletal and cardiovascular tissues which may include but not limited to bone, cartilage, tendon/ligament, skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, blood vessels, and heart valves. Papers with basic studies of bioreactor performance, some studies of cell/tissue development in vitro, and translation studies of tissue efficacy in vivo would be encouraged. Other presentations pertaining to cutting-edge research, such as bioreactors designed to mimic the dynamic physical/mechanical stimuli that exist in vivo would be most welcomed.
Blood Vessels - Small Chair: Prof Michael Raghunath
In terms of clinical need, blood supply of tissue and its restoration for tissue regeneration and repair comes on the macro and the micro level. On the macro level there is a longstanding lack of tissue equivalents of small blood vessels (4-6 mm) for the replacement of coronary arteries and for arterio-venous shunts for kidney dialysis patients as well as for peripheral blood vessel occlusions. This track shall bring together scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs pursuing strategies to build small blood vessels.
Blood Vessels - Smallest (Microvascularisation) Chair: Prof Michael Raghunath
In terms of clinical need, blood supply of tissue and its restoration for tissue regeneration and repair comes on the macro and the micro level. On the microscopic level, integration of tissue implants and biomaterials into a capillary bed is a still unsolved problem. Treating ischemic stroke, chronic heart failure or critical limb ischemia using living cells is the current regenerative medicine challenge. Cell-based therapy has been proposed and a number of clinical trials are currently underway. This symposium shall bring together scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs pursuing strategies to seeking vascular histointegration of implants in the broadest sense or developing cell-based therapies to restore capillary beds.
Bone Chair: Prof Teoh Swee Hin
The treatment of large bone defect still remains a major clinical challenge. Bone tissue engineering strategies have been developed to address this ever-pressing clinical need, with significant scientific and clinical progresses achieved in the past decade. In this symposium, we will focus on the technological advancements in various translational research fields including scaffold manufacturing technology, regulatory issues, stem cells, growth factors, and bioreactor technology. Furthermore, some recent achievement of innovative surgical techniques to improve the rapid vascularization and the healing efficacy of bone tissue engineering treatment will be illustrated as well.
Cartilage Chair: Prof James Hui
Cartilage is a flexible, compressible connective tissue that is found in many parts of the body, especially between joints (the knee, the elbow, the ankle). It acts as the shock absorbers of the body. Hyaline cartilage wears out when it undergoes excessive stress, and because it is not vascularized, the regeneration process is very slow. Thus there is a need to develop technologies to successfully regenerate the cartilage. Over the past few years, surgeons have used techniques like microfracture, autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) or cartilage transfer by either mosiacplasty or osteochondral autograft transfer system and in an attempt to regenerate the native cartilage. However, these techniques are still unable to integrate well with the surrounding and regenerate the native cartilage. This track hopes to invite papers that can address the issue of native cartilage regeneration with novel ideas that can involve cell sources, scaffold materials and fabrication, which show promising in vitro and/or in vivo results.
Cell Encapsulation Chair: Prof Tong Yen Wah
The proposed theme for this session is on "Cell Encapsulation". Cellular therapies using biomaterials is gaining acceptance as a viable tissue regeneration or tissue engineering method. In most cases, the biomaterials are used as scaffolds or carriers to hold and encapsulate the cells so that it can be delivered to the site for integration into the host. It can also be used to replace drug or gene therapy by delivering cells that can secrete therapeutic compounds directly to the site. One core issue for the success of cell encapsulation is the development of biomaterials that can mimic the natural environment of the regenerating or developing tissue. Another issue of importance is the biocompatibility and survival of cells that are encapsulated.
This session will aim to highlight cellular encapsulation with the focus on: (i) the biomaterials used, (ii) cellular function and biocompatibility, and (iii) the cell therapy outcome. These biomaterials will be able to serve as scaffolds and carriers for cells to maintain their viability and keep them intact when delivered in vivo. The materials will also be able to control and direct the differentiation, phenotypic maintenance, proliferation and gene expression of the cells through biomimicry of the natural cellular microenvironment. Finally, the types of therapy targeted by cell encapsulation will be highlighted, including tissue engineering and therapeutic delivery.
Control Release Delivery Systems Chair: Prof Feng Si Shen
Nanomedicine is to apply and further develop nanoscience and nanotechnology to solve the problems in the current practice of medicine, i.e. to diagnose, treat and prevent diseases at cellular and molecular level, which will radically change the way we make drug and the way we take drugs. It has been estimated that the world market of nanomedicine products will reach $200 billion by 2015. Development of controlled release delivery systems is one of the most prospective areas in nanomedicine. In this symposium, advances of various nanocarriers for sustained, controlled and targeted delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic agents will be discussed in details, which may include conjugated polymers, dendrimers, micelles, liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles and nanoparticles of biodegradable polymers.
Cranio-maxillofacial Chair: Prof Lim Thiam Chye
Craniomaxillofacial surgery has benefited with the introduction of various material for fixation & reconstruction in the past. Titanium has been the main stay for CMF surgery serving a material for fixation devices as well as osteointegrated implants. Of late, many new materials have been explored, including bioresorbable polymers like poly-lactic acid, poly-caprolactone, poly-glycolic acid, etc to serve in these various realms.
This conference will focus the craniomaxillofacial surgeons and scientists in this emerging field of new materials for reconstruction of the bioskeleton of the face & its combination with the various techniques in tissue & bioengineering to create dramatic new advances for the betterment of the patients.
Dental Tissue Chair: Prof Cao Tong
The track welcome any basic, translational, clinical or application studies of molecule, gene, protein, cell, tissue, organ, body system, biomaterials, scaffold, implant, transplantation, etc, for regenerative medicine. These studies could focus on oral and maxillofacial tissues and organs like skin, mucosa, muscle, tendon, ligament, bone, cartilage, fat, fibrous tissue, blood and lymph vessel, nerve, enamel, dentine, cementum, dental pulp, periodontal tissues, tooth, lip, palate, tongue, cheek, oral cavity, salivary gland, mandible and others.
Emerging Tissues Chair: Prof Michael Raghunath
This session is dedicated to tissue engineering technologies that involve tissues and organ functions that are outside the tissue engineering/regenerative medicine mainstream such as the vocal chord or reproductive organs. We also would like to review a particular strategy that has been emerging recently in the clinical application of tissue engineering, namely the usage of decellularised organs to render a complex three -dimensional biomaterials scaffold that is repopulated with the host's autologous cells. Recent successes like the "Spanish Windpipe" highlight this strategy and this session invites scientists to share their experience in tissue preparation, repopulation and implantation. The generation of highly specialised tissues for metabolic or diagnostic studies also will be covered here, for example brown fat tissue.
Eye Chair: Prof Jod Mehta
Ophthalmology has pioneered several advancements in biological tissue engineering. The eye offers easy access surgical and the ability to undergo detailed examination non-invasively. Recent advances related to tissue engineering that will be covered during our session are the use of epithelial stem cells for ocular surface reconstruction from conventional sources e.g. limbal tissue as well as autologous sources e.g. conjunctiva and oral mucosa. Recent advances in the use of biosynthetic corneas for artificial stromal replacement and the use of biomaterials for artificial corneal devices. Finally we will also cover the hottest topic in cornea tissue engineering corneal endothelial cells reconstruction.
Gene Therapy and Gene Regulation Chair: Prof Yang Yiyan
To be advised.
Growth Factors Chair: Prof Victor Nurcombe
The biological and physical augmentation provided by extracellular matrix (ECM) derived implants continues to challenge and refine the conventional wisdom of biomaterials. It is now appreciated that different tissue-processing methodologies can produce ECM devices with characteristic post-implantation responses ranging from the classic foreign body encapsulation of a permanent implant, to one where the implant is degraded and resorbed, to one where the processed ECM implant is populated by local fibroblasts and supporting vasculature to generate a new, metabolically active tissue Especially interesting are the effects of ECM-derived biomaterials on stem cell biology. The two definitive characteristics of stem cells, the capacity for proliferation without loss of potency and the ability to differentiate into specialized cell type(s), endow these cells with great promise for the development of cell replacement therapies for degenerative disease and injury. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie stem cell self-renewal and differentiation is central to realizing this potential, and efforts have increasingly focused on elucidating the signals that regulate cell function in the tissues where they reside, the endogenous stem cell niche. Stem cell fate decisions on biomaterials are critically influenced by cells' interactions with components of their microenvironment, and these cell extrinsic factors include soluble and immobilized factors, the extracellular matrix, and signals presented by neighboring cells. Thus, recreating or simulating this microenvironment may be critical for properly expanding and controlling the differentiation of stem cells on bioscaffolds.
Heart Chair: Dr Leo Hwa Liang
Recent advances in stem cell biology have made the prospect of cell therapy and tissue regeneration for cardiac tissue a clinical reality. The success of regenerative cardiac medicine hinges on the delivery of sufficient number of cardiomyocytes for cell transplantation. These potential sources include bone marrow (BM) stem cells, embryonic stem (ES) cells, and tissue-derived stem cells. At present, stem cell cardiac regeneration still faces many obstacles, including the limited proliferative potential of cardiac myocytes or stem cells, the maintenance of the survival of newly implanted cells, and the relatively low number of endogenous stem/progenitor cells that are available in the heart. The realization of cell-based cardiac treatment thus would require the development of techniques to ensure the selectivity of cardiomyocytes induction and the development of transplantable cardiac tissue. Tissue engineering of myocardial tissue represents a promising direction in cardiac repair. Here the important considerations include the selection of matrix material and cell source for tissue engineering. Recent developments in tissue engineering of cardiac tissue implant include development of valve implants, the creation of heart patches through combining of stem cells with novel biomaterials so that these tissues engineered constructs can be grafted into the diseased heart, either through injection or transplantation. Despite significant progresses made in the past decades, many hurdles remain to be overcome. An integrative study encompassing both the stem cell biology and tissue engineering is therefore necessary in order to achieve the full potential of cardiac regeneration.
Hematopoietic Stem Cells Chair: Prof William Hwang
Hematopoietic stem cell transplants have been successfully utilised for hematopoietic regeneration and anti-cancer therapy for more than four decades. It is now an established form of therapy and the sources of these cells have expanded beyond traditional sources like the bone marrow and peripheral blood to include newer sources like cord blood. However, depending on cell source and the physiological milleu of the patient, these cells may be inadequate in number or specific functional capabilities. In cord blood transplants, histocompatibility barriers may be partially breached, but cell dose remains an issue, particularly for adult patients, where cell numbers often fail to match patient size. Thus, several centres have embarked on ex vivo expansion of the umbilical cord blood stem cells prior to transplant, with mixed success. Subsets of these cells may also be engineered to enhance anti-viral and anti-tumor capabilities with some interesting result.
Ligament/Tendon Chair: Prof James Goh
Ligaments are tensile elements for load transmission to limit range of motion between skeletal structures and for articular joints, they also contribute to the control of translation and rotation of joints. Tendons are rather similar to ligaments in micro-architecture, their role is to transmit loads or forces from muscles to bones. Therefore, an important criterion in the regeneration of ligament and tendon is that it has to be functional. In this track, it is hope that papers will address this issue even in the foundational approach of cell selection, scaffold materials and design, the use of growth factors, growth strategies and in-vivo animal models.
Liver Chair: Hanry Yu
Liver is the major organ responsible for metabolizing xenobiotics (ingested/digested food, drugs, infecting pathogens) in circulation as well as synthesizing important chemical factors for many physiological processes. Liver is also capable of rapid regeneration except in some situations of massive liver damage such as virus hepatitis or alcohol abuse or biliary atria. Therefore, much efforts have been devoted to create diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to prevent liver failure, stimulate liver regeneration or bridge for liver transplantation. Since liver is also a complex epithelial tissue that are composed of many repeating unit of lobules, recent focuses have been on micro-engineering of these basic tissue units with innovative biomaterials, micro-fabrication and imaging technologies from a bottom-up perspective to achieve precise structure-function relationships mimicking the in vivo tissues. These highly functional in vitro tissue engineered constructs are finding increasing use in animal-free testing of drug leads, pathogens, food supplements and environmental toxins. Computational and systems biology or mechanobiology approaches to study mechanism of liver fibrosis also contribute to developing innovative technologies to monitor and stimulate liver regeneration. Liver-related diseases are dominant health problems in Asia and attracting increasing attention worldwide. Any interdisciplinary research related to the study of liver biology and diseases will be communicated in this symposium.
Mechanobiology Chair: Prof Lim Chwee Teck
Tissue engineering usually involves cell-seeded scaffolds either to provide mechanical stability for cells to form into tissues or to induce proper differentiation of stem cells. Such cell-scaffold constructs should provide environmental as well as mechanical cues conducive for matrix production and cell proliferation and growth. Also, cells in the body are constantly subjected to mechanical forces acting on them and these can include dynamic forces encountered in muscles, tendons, bones or cartilages or in blood vessels arising from fluid flow induced shear stresses and hydrostatic pressure. As such, applying mechanobiology to tissue engineering research is important as it involves the study of how cells respond to mechanical cues arising from both static and dynamic cell-scaffold or matrix interactions and how these are eventually transduced to biochemical signals within the cells.
Nanotechnology Chair: Prof Zhang Yong
Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are interdisciplinary fields that aim to restore, maintain or improve tissue function. Regeneration of tissues can be achieved by using both living cells that provide biological functions and materials that act as a template to support cell growth. Nanotechnology has been used as a tool for development of materials with nanofeatures to mimic structural components of nature tissues and to promote necessary interactions with cells and enhance subsequent cell/tissue growth. In recent studies, use of nanomaterials and nanodevices as imaging tools and delivery systems for diagnosing, preventing and treating human diseases has also been demonstrated. Many new approaches and new applications are being developed due to the unique physical and chemical properties of nanotechnology based materials and devices. Although nanotechnology is promising, there is an emerging concern about the toxicity of nanomaterials. Its relation to some environmental and occupational diseases is not yet well understood. In this symposium, we will bring together experts from different disciplines to discuss the current and emerging technologies and related issues in this area and provide a clear outlook on unmet needs and future direction.
Neural Tissue Chair: Prof Wang Shu
Bioengineering strategies have been widely tested for the regeneration of injured spinal cords and peripheral nerves in pre-clinical studies as well as clinical trials. The use of tissue engineering scaffolds, with or without functional cells, is one of the attractive bioengineering strategies that circumvent many problems inherited with the current clinical treatments of using autologous grafts. Recent years have seen sharp surge in exploring nanotechnology and nanomaterials in neural tissue engineering. Several nanostructured composite scaffolds have recently been developed as neural prosthetics. The past few years have also seen significant progress in employing stem cells in neural tissue engineering devices. In addition to adult stem cells, cells derived from embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells have been tested for neural tissue engineering applications. Since pluripotent stem cells can be used as a reliable and accessible source to generate unlimited amounts of functional cells, neural tissue engineering approaches based on these cells hold great potential in regenerative medicine. The current track will focus on the latest developments in neural tissue engineering that aid peripheral nerve regeneration and spinal cord repair.
Pancreas Chair: Prof Stephen Chang Kin Yong
Type I diabetes mellitus and type II diabetes with low C-peptide affects millions of peoples worldwide. Despite the use of insulin therapy, there is still fluctuation in the glucose levels which results in the development of serious chronic complications. Although pancreatic organ transplant is an established option, it involves a significant surgical procedure. The goal of pancreatic tissue engineering is therefore to implant such patients with insulin-producing pancreatic islets which may be obtained from a deceased donor's pancreas, a living donor's pancreas, the patient's own pancreas, or from stem cells. Other than the later two options, patients receiving islets therapy has to be put on immunosuppressive drugs to prevent rejection. Improving ways to prevent immune responses to the donor islets without the use of immunosuppressive drugs becomes a major topic in tissue engineering.
Production and Manufacturing Chair: Prof William Birch
Stem cells are moving closer to the clinic, as evidenced by recent clinical trial initiatives by companies such as Osiris, Geron and Mesoblast in 2010-2011. However, technologies for producing relevant quantities of clinical-grade stem cells at scale are still very much in their infancy. With defined environments for pluripotent stem cell expansion now commercially available, specific conditions for their reliable differentiation into tissue lineages are still being defined. Importantly, the scale-up of these processes and the development of standards for validating their output will be required. This will encompass the selection and development of robust cell lines, development of serum free media and defined surfaces for stem cells, novel antibodies and stem cell purification methods, in-process monitoring, and novel cell based assays. For this track, we are requesting papers that describe novel technologies related to stem cell bioprocessing with industrial applicability in stem cell therapy.
Scaffold Designs and Scaffold Technology Chair: Prof Tong Yen Wah
Scaffolds continue to play an important role in regenerative engineering of anchorage-dependent mammalian cells, tissues and organs. Although there have been many successful commercial scaffolds being used clinically, problems remain for those applications where thick, multi-layered scaffolds and angiogenesis are required, and more recently, designing scaffolds suitable for stem cells applications. Several approaches in addressing these problems have been proposed in numerous journal publications, and these include studying the effect of pore size and distributions, development of new biomaterials and new scaffold fabrication methods. This "Scaffold Designs and Fabrication Technology" track provides a multi-disciplinary platform for researchers in diverse fields to share and discuss their experiences in addressing these problems.
Signal Transduction Chair: Prof Andre Choo
Stem cells have the ability to self-renew whilst maintaining the capacity to differentiate to other cells types in the body. This potential makes them an ideal cell source for regenerative medicine. However one of the challenges is the ability to maintain batches of stem cells exhibiting consistent phenotype and under the appropriate cues differentiate efficiently to the lineage of interest at quantities required for therapeutic applications. This process of self-renewal and differentiation in stem cells is regulated by many different signaling pathways however many of these molecular interactions are not fully characterized. Understanding the interactions between extrinsic factors e.g. growth factors, intrinsic factors e.g. transcription factors and the signaling pathways will provide insight into stem cell fate and thus aiding the development of therapies to harness the therapeutic potential of stem cells.
Skin Chair: Prof Phan Toan Thang
Non-healing wounds resulting from ageing-related and chronic diseases like diabetes, cardio-vascular failure are becoming a major challenge and burden for Singapore and many other countries. Diabetes alone affects 21 million people in the US and 189 million people worldwide. By the year 2025 the prevalence of diabetes is expected to rise by 72% to 324 million people globally1. In Singapore, about 10% of the total population (~ 300,000 people) has diabetes2. As a chronic disease, diabetes can cause devastating complications such as limb ulcers and resulting amputation. According to Singh et al, up to 25% of those with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer3. More than half of all foot ulcers will become infected leading to hospitalization and 1 in 5 will require an amputation4. Another type of chronic wounds, venous leg and pressure ulcers are sequelae of venous insufficiency and conditions that make patients bedridden is also very common and costs public health multi-billion dollars in the UK and USA5.
Acute and trauma wounds are caused by man-made accidents and natural disasters. The latter is especially common in Singapore's neighboring countries, namely China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, where rapid industrialization and poor safety practices contribute to their increase. In Vietnam, for example, more than 90,000 victims with mild and severe wounds caused by burns and accidents require medical specialist care and hospitalization every year6. This number can be translated to approximately 1-1.2 million cases in India or China alone. Another study reported more than 7 million burn victims requiring hospitalization and professional treatment occur worldwide each year and more than a million die as a direct result of their sustained wounds7. Economically, advanced wound care represents a great opportunity with US$2-3 billion and growth rate of 10-23% per year7. In other aspect of translational research in regenerative dermatology is skin rejuvenation and aesthetic skincare, which is on a big rise in Asia and represent multi-billion dollar commercial opportunity. This track is aiming to bring in researchers from different disciplines, including basic academic and industrial scientists, dermatologists, plastic surgeons, engineering scientists, regulatory and legal experts to address and discuss on current technologies, business opportunities, and regulation that may affect translation and commercialization of skin regenerative research.
- American Diabetes Association
- Diabetic Society of Singapore
- Singh N et al. Journal of American Medical Association 2005 Jan 12;293(2):217-28
- Lavery et al, Diabetes Care 2006 Jun;29(6):1288-93
- Cherry et al, Oxford Textbook of Surgery, 2000
- Vietnam National Institute of Burns and Vietnam Association for Burns Injuries, 2009
- Wound Care Markets, 2nd Edition 2005
Stem Cells Science Chair: Prof Simon Cool
In 2009, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) approved USD$67.7 million to fund the development of future stem cell therapies. More recently Pfizer announced it was investing up to $100 million in stem cell research, and GE Healthcare released plans to commercialize equipment to collect stem cells from patients in North America. Only last month Geron began enrolling the first patient in a clinical trial of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived neural progenitor cells for spinal injury. In the adult stem cell space, Osiris Therapeutics (together with Genzyme Corporation) is in Phase III clinical trials with MSCs for three indications, including acute and steroid refractory Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD), Crohn's disease and for the repair of gastrointestinal injury resulting from radiation exposure. Just last week, the U.S. drug maker, Cephalon acquired a 19.9% stake in the Australian stem cell company Mesoblast, in a deal worth up to $1.7 billion. With this accelerated investment and clinical activity, there is a growing expectation that within the next five years physicians will come into routine possession of a remarkable new set of tools. In all cases, there remains the need to better understand the basic science that underpins this emerging technology. In particular, strategies that permits the accelerated growth of na"ive multi/pluripotent stem cells in sufficient numbers to satisfy the growing therapeutic and research market, a market that is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 22.9% to reach $68.9bn in 2010. This exceeds the annual sales of the cholesterol drug Lipitor, the top selling prescription drug in the U.S.
Surface Modification and Topography Chair: Prof Evelyn Yim
Surface property of a tissue engineering device dictates the biocompatibility, host response and integration in vivo. Evidences demonstrated the cell-material surface is also crucial in modulating cell behavior in vitro. The understanding of the cell-material interaction and the ability to control and modify the material surface are required for design a tissue engineering device and to reconstruct the stem cell niche for cell therapies. Material surface can be modified by changing the surface chemistry, immobilization of biologics, introduce spatial control with surface patterning or creating biomimetic surface topography to govern the cell responses. The integration of multidisciplinary research on surface modification and topography will enable the development of the basic research and translational applications of regenerative medicine.