Cells, Biomaterials, and Biophysical Stimuli for Bone, Cartilage, and Muscle Regeneration, volume II

Book excerpt: This Research Topic is Volume II of the article collection, Cells, Biomaterials, and Biophysical Stimuli for Bone, Cartilage, and Muscle Regeneration Over the last few years, a variety of tissue engineering strategies have been developed to improve the regeneration of bone, cartilage, and skeletal muscle. Numerous studies have proven that physical factors (external mechanical forces, and biomaterials’ features), as well as biochemical factors, may induce cells to reprogram their functions and dynamically adapt to the cellular microenvironment conditions. The advances in understanding the role of biophysical cues in the stem cells microenvironment point out the importance of their application in biomedicine and biotechnology to drive and modulate cell behavior for therapeutic purposes. In this context, many efforts are dedicated to design different strategies to engineer the physical aspects of the natural cellular microenvironment. The development of these technologies may be useful for identifying and studying the physical factors and help to clarify their downstream mechanisms to control cell behavior. This Research Topic will promote an overview of recent advances and cutting-edge approaches based on primary cells, stem cells, extracellular vesicles (EVs), biomaterial scaffolds, bioreactors, biophysical stimuli (e.g., mechanical forces, electromagnetic waves), and biochemical cues. All research involving one or more of the aforementioned cells and methods is welcome to elucidate new basic-research findings (e.g., molecular insights, biochemical pathways toward regeneration) and possible new clinical strategies (e.g., bioreactors for cell factories). An interdisciplinary design (e.g., biology/biochemistry plus bioengineering) is very welcome.