Prospects for engineering the urinary tract

Congenital abnormalities and acquired disorders can lead to organ damage or loss within the urinary tract. For reconstructive purposes, tissue engineering efforts are currently underway for virtually every type of tissue and organ within the urinary tract. Tissue engineering incorporates the fields of cell transplantation, materials science, and engineering for the purpose of creating functional replacement tissue, and requires personnel who have mastered the techniques of cell harvest, culture, expansion and transplantation, as well as polymer design. Major advances in the areas of stem cell biology, tissue engineering, and therapeutic cloning (nuclear transfer) techniques have made it possible to combine these technologies to create the comprehensive scientific field of regenerative medicine.