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Comparative materials differences revealed in engineered bone as a function of cell-specific differentiation

This paper uses a multi-disciplinary approach to determine if cells in bone tissue engineering produce material that mimics structural/compositional complexity of native bone. Bone nodules formed by embryonic stem cells were found to be an order of magnitude less stiff and lacked the distinctive nanolevel architecture and mineral composition of native bone. This is an important finding for both development of clinically engineered bone, and cell selection for regenerative medicine. It challenges the conventional, discipline specific, method of tissue engineered constructs characterisation and stresses that multi-disciplinary characterisation required. I made substantial contributions to carrying out the study (including data acquisition).