Engineering tissues from induced pluripotent stem cells

Stem cells hold tremendous promise for replacing or regenerating tissues damaged by injury and disease as well as to study developmental biology and pathomechanisms. The discovery of methods to generate and culture human pluripotent stem cells (hESC and hiPSC) paved the way for producing genetically defined organ and tissue-specific cell types in a controlled laboratory setting. Cell and tissue engineering approaches have proven essential to unlocking the power of human pluripotent stem cells for both disease modeling and regenerative medicine. This editorial summarizes impressive examples of burgeoning research by leading groups that harness cellular and tissue engineering principles to study mechanisms of disease and injury, and in the context of repairing damaged tissue. These studies highlight both the power of these approaches, as well as ongoing challenges in the field.