Speaker Details

Biography

Professor Mona K. Marei, Professor of prosthetic Dentistry. She is the founder and the head of tissue engineering science and technology/laboratories-Alexandria University, Egypt.In Dec. 2011 she was elected to be the President of the African – Material Research Society . In 2009, she is appointed a board member of higher council of industrial technology-Ministry of scientific research, in 2008- a board member of permanent scientific higher committe for promotion in Dentistry-Ministry of higher education-Egypt. And 2006 in an invitated visiting professor in the national specialzed council for education, scientific research and technology – genetic engineering committe-presidential republic office. Professor Marei is an international advisor board member in: Africa Renaissance Institute of Science and Technology "ARIST" (http://www.arist-edu.org/ )-Burkina Faso, in Technology Innovation Scientific Committee- University of Bambey-Senegal, and in "NSF's"- International Material Insitiute for New Functionality,inGlass-LehighUniversity/US(http://www.lehigh.edu/imi/). She served the vice-president of Tissue-EngineeringSociety International "TESI" (http://www.termis.org/) –for emerging countries. (2003-2005), the member-at-large for emerging countries in the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society "TERMIS" (http://www.termis.org/) 2005-2008, and executive board member in African Materials Research society "A-MRS" (http://www.africamrs.org/ ) (2005). Prof. Mona K. Marei serves currently in the excutive editorial board of Tissue Engineering Journals partsA,BandC(http://www.liebertpub.com/products/product.aspx?pid=315). Associate editor board of the Annals of Biomedical Engineering (http://www.editorialmanager.com/abme/), editorial board in the International Journal of Artifical Organs(http://www.artificial-organs.com/public/ijao/default.aspx), peer-reviewer in the Eastern Mediterranean Health journal EMHJ, "WHO-EMRO" (http://www.emro.who.int/emhj.htm), and peer reviewer in Journal of Dentistry and Oral Hygiene (JDOH). Dr Marei is the principal invistigator, and team leader for a number of national and international projects and agreements in the field of biomaterials, biomedical engineering, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. She is one of the national export in science and technology, reviewer in the Science and Technology Development Fund "STDF"(http://www.stdf.org.eg/), national research/ Development and innovation "RDI" (http://www.rdi-eg.com/rdi/index.htm) program, US/Egypt, German/Egypt-research fund agreement (GERF), Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency "SIDA", Center of Special Studies and Programs "CSSP" (http://www.bibalex.org/baanniversary/ANWIST.html) Biblothica Alexandrina and in a number of academic/educational programs national and international. She directs the international student exchange activities in Biomedical Engineering for the emerging countries, and she supervise numerous MS and PhD thesises in the field of Dentistry, Biomaterial, Biomedical Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Marei published numerous articles in the international scientific journals and recieved a patent #23731 in july 2007 from Ministry of scientific research, several awards, medals and certificate of recognition. She organized a number of training courses, workshops, public awarness seminars and conferances. Dr. Marei is a member of many distiguished societies for women recognition in science and technology e.g. Arab network for women in science and technology (ANWIST). She was invited keynote and pleneray speaker for numerous international conferances for the past 20 years of her career.

Abstract

Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine: 20 Years of Achievement

The past three decades have seen the emergence of the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine field in which scientists, engineers, and physicians apply tools from a variety of fields to construct biological substitutes that can mimic tissues for diagnostic and research purposes and can replace (or help regenerate) diseased and injured tissues. Since its early days, tissue engineering has significantly evolved in each of its pillars – Cells, signaling molecules and scaffolds. This evolution covered both conceptual aspects as well as practical aspects, mainly reflected in the achievements of the field. A significant portion of this effort has been translated to actual therapies for tissue and organ substitutes. However, even though cells and signaling molecules platforms have evolved during the past decades, leading to major field evolution, the degree of success of tissue engineering methods is still highly dependent on the properties of the scaffold. Association of cells to classic biodegradable solid/porous biomaterials represents a dominating conceptual framework in tissue engineering. While, the classical tissue engineering approach to produce tissue by seeding cells into preformed porous and biodegradable scaffolds presents short comings mainly due to difficulty in reproducing tissues at the peri-cellular level with adequate micro-environmental conditions in a 3/D thick structure, the new paradigm bridges the gap between research and clinical translation performing the in-vitro procedures from the process design point of view; called biomimetics. Another engineering rule in regenerative therapy continues to solidify is minimally invasive procedures via smart tools and materials and manipulation of well-defined in-vivo environments. Shifting the paradigm of tissue engineering significantly encourages high level of cell attachment at the nano-scale surface that directly affects further cellular responses such as movement, proliferation and phenotype expression through signal transduction. It is apparent that the complexity of the biological process dwarfs the multidisciplinary involvement of the current treatment. As a disruptive technology, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have the potential to transform health care delivery since they result in “different” ways of working as opposed to simply “better” ways of working. The presentation will focus on the most high profile recent studies on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine that translate relatively simple approaches into preclinical and clinical studies.