{"id":9043,"date":"2023-03-24T11:20:30","date_gmt":"2023-03-24T11:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/uosm2031\/?p=9043"},"modified":"2023-03-24T11:20:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-24T11:20:30","slug":"morphogenesis-organoids-and-regrown-limbs-the-power-of-self-organising-tissues-in-regenerative-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/uosm2031\/2023\/03\/24\/morphogenesis-organoids-and-regrown-limbs-the-power-of-self-organising-tissues-in-regenerative-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Morphogenesis, organoids, and regrown limbs: The power of self-organising tissues in regenerative medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Figure 1 <\/strong>– My younger self’s camera roll was absolutely filled with bottom-up pictures of trees’ branches. This is just one of many examples<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

My first well-formed academic interest took shape in the form of bright-eyed awe at the beauty, diversity, and complexity of every life-form that I set sights on. How wonderful the pattern of that tree\u2019s branches! I would wonder at the factors driving the formation of that pattern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This might all seem to be getting away from the topic of tissue-engineering, but morphogenesis (how the shape of organisms arises during development) is of great relevance in research and the clinic! There are two main views of how development occurs<\/a>, with the classical \u2018mosaic\u2019 view, in which cells obey a deterministic programme, their fates determined genetically, and the \u2018regulative\u2019 view, in which cell-cell interactions and multidirectional information transfer affect the developmental trajectories of the cell, with evidence pointing that both have their place<\/a> in different developmental stages, as the cells take in physical, electrical, and chemical cues to \u201cdecide\u201d how to arrange themselves. The way that organs and tissues form is at the core<\/a> of many regenerative medicine issues, from birth defects, to genetic diseases, to cancer. Contrary to the intuitive assumption that organisms with higher regenerative capacity would also have higher propensity for cancer due to their higher cell proliferation, they actually have lower cancer incidences<\/a>, implying the competent morphogenetic pathways used for regeneration may also prevent cells from falling into the disorder which can lead to tumorigenesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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