Биоинженерия / ТИ_печень(органы_ЖКТ) / Bioengineering_Liver_Transplantation

Bioengineering Liver Transplantation

Special Issue Editors

Luc J.W. Van der Laan

Bart Spee

Monique M. A. Verstegen

MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade

Christen J. Boyer, Moheb Boktor, Hrishikesh Samant, Luke A. White, Yuping Wang, David H. Ballard, Robert C. Huebert, Jennifer E. Woerner, Ghali E. Ghali and Jonathan S. Alexander

3D Printing for Bio-Synthetic Biliary Stents

Reprinted from: Bioengineering 2019, 6, 16, doi:10.3390/bioengineering6010016 . . . . . . . . . . . 107

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About the Special Issue Editors

Luc J.W. Van der Laan is based at Erasmus MC—University Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where he is Professor in Liver Regenerative Medicine and Head of the Laboratory of Experimental Transplantation and Intestinal Surgery (LETIS). The research conducted at tis center has a strongly translational character and aims to provide the basic and applied knowledge for improving the outcome of patients with end-stage liver failure or liver cancer. Novel regenerative strategies involve human liver and bile duct organoids, bioscaffolds and organ perfusion technologies.

Bart Spee is Assistant Professor at Utrecht University. Here, he combines stem cell and biofabrication technologies in order to create in vitro models that mimic liver function in great detail. This, in turn, would replace animal testing for, for instance, toxicity testing. Moreover, he is interested in using the same technology to create entire organs via whole organ engineering, which would alleviate issues from liver donor shortage. Bart Spee is also coordinator of the annual Regenerative Medicine and Advanced In Vitro Models summer school in Utrecht.

Monique M. A. Verstegen is trained as a biologist and has a background in adult stem cell biology. She is currently Assistant Professor at the Erasmus MC—University Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands, at the Department of Surgery. She focuses on research directed at liver and bile duct regeneration and liver disease modeling using organ-on-a-chip technology. She has great expertise in using organoid technology to model liver and primary liver tumors.

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Preface to ”Bioengineering Liver Transplantation”

Liver transplantation is the only effective treatment for end-stage liver disease, but the shortage of organ donors severely limits the number of patients that benefit from this therapy. An understanding and critical evaluation of emerging concepts in regenerative medicine, biomaterials, and stem cell biology is therefore essential for the bioengineering of human liver grafts. With this, novel liver transplantation procedures and personalized alternative treatments of end-stage liver disease become available and can be applied. This Special Issue of Bioengineering covers the search for alternatives, which include the optimization of organ preservation by oxygen persufflation to improve poor quality liver grafts and make them suitable for transplantation. In addition, one paper presents 3D printing technology to manufacture scaffolds for patient-specific liver tissue or bile ducts as a novel approach. In this paper, a novel 3D-printed stent infused with collagen, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC), and cholangiocytes is validated for its use in personalized biliary procedures. In addition to this specific bioprinting approach for bile ducts, different types of bioprinting technology for liver tissue engineering are reviewed, such as laser-based bioprinting, inkjet bioprinting, and extrusion bioprinting. Bioengineered liver tissue is not only developed as an alternative for donor organs, but also as a promising tool to use in drug testing, toxicological studies, and in disease modeling. Next to the organ-typical cells, supportive materials such as hydrogels are used. The utilization of these hydrogels in liver tissue engineering, as well as more bioengineering alternatives for liver regenerative medicine are reviewed in this issue. Finally, an excellent example of the implementation of genetically engineered liver cells in a canine model for copper toxicosis is described.We would like to thank all contributing authors, reviewers, and the editorial office for assisting in the establishment of this Special Issue on Bioengineering Liver Transplantation.

Luc J.W. Van der Laan, Bart Spee, Monique M. A. Verstegen

Special Issue Editors

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