Preface

As an emerging area in materials science, smart materials have achieved tremendous success in developments in recent years. However, there is no book to summarize the research of smart materials in tissue engineering. It's difficult to know where to learn about this exciting topic. This book is an attempt to document the recent advancements for applications of smart materials in tissue engineering. Bringing together scientists and engineers that work in different fields of chemistry, physics, biology, materials science, pharmaceutics, medicine, and in clinics, this book has a broad focus on applications of smart materials in tissue engineering. By uniting these diverse areas, fresh prospects are opened up and fill the gap between fundamental research and application-originated technology and products. This book tries to introduce the practice of new tissue engineering smart materials to a wide range of audiences, from scientific communities to industrial organizations. The chapters are comprehensively covered from material manufacturers to clinical applications.

This book has been written by a prestigious group of authors worldwide with international reputations, including a foreword from the founder of tissue engineering in regenerative medicine, Prof. Robert S. Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States. All chapters were written by experts in their field. In order to provide a favor to the less-informed readers, it is necessary to summarize in a few lines the essential contents of each chapter. Although all these chapters cover a broad range of topics, occasionally there is overlap between each contribution. Chapter 1 discusses the applications of multifunctional scaffolds in tissue engineering. Chapter 2 illustrates translational smart materials. Chapter 3 contains information about injectable smart materials. Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 highlight recent advancements in silicon and conductive materials for tissue engineering. Chapter 6 discusses cell encapsulation materials. Chapter 7 deals with smart materials for bone tissue engineering, while Chapter 8 discusses smart materials for cartilage tissue engineering. Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 are devoted to smart materials for cardiovascular tissue engineering and wound healing. Chapter 11 demonstrates the use of magnetic-responsive materials for cardiovascular tissue engineering. Chapter 12 shows how intestinal stem cells are used for intestinal tissue engineering. Chapter 13 and Chapter 14 deal with smart-tissue-engineering-scaffold-originated materials for diabetes treatments and nerve regeneration. From Chapter 15 to Chapter 17, smart cell culture materials, flexible micro- and nanoelectronics, and smart materials that are responsive to different external stimuli to regulate the fate of stem cells are introduced. Chapter 18 and Chapter 19 discuss the principles of drug delivery and cell delivery for tissue engineering. From Chapter 20 to Chapter 23, some new technologies for developing smart tissue engineering scaffolds are introduced, such as multifunctional scaffolds, microfluidic systems, and 3D printing. I hope that this summary will be helpful in encouraging readers to take a closer look at the various chapters.

Different from other books about tissue engineering, this book covers the most recent advancements in smart tissue engineering materials, which are not described in other books, such as multifunctional smart materials and 3D printing materials. It combines different approaches to utilizing smart materials as a substrate for tissue engineering, from drug and cell delivery to stem cell control. It also documents broad topics on smart materials for tissue engineering, from basic designation to clinical applications. This book will have a broad audience at different levels. It could be used by graduate students as a textbook for material science and engineering and biomedical engineering. It could also be used by undergraduates as a supplementary textbook for biological engineering courses, materials engineering courses and chemical engineering courses. It could be a good resource for industry and medical professionals to learn about the recent products of smart materials in tissue engineering, as well as applications of smart materials in clinics.

I am grateful to all contributors for their consistent cooperation, but I take the responsibility for possible shortcomings. I was fortunate to convince these leading experts from different fields to share their views and visions in the book. I thank all of them for their efforts in writing comprehensively, as well as covering each assigned topic in detail. They deserve the merit of the book. My acknowledgement also goes to my mentor, Prof. Robert S. Langer, for his kind foreword and continuous encouragement. I want to acknowledge the indispensable support from the Royal Society of Chemistry staff, particularly Lindsay McGregor for providing invaluable help with editing aspects. I also would like to thank the readers, from whom I will be very humble to receive comments and feedback. The acknowledgements could never be complete without expressing my sincere gratitude to these individuals. I hope that the book will stimulate junior and senior scientists and engineers to explore the intriguing possibilities of using smart materials for applications in the biomedical field, particularly in tissue engineering.

Qun Wang

Iowa State University, United States