We recently published our review by Crosby and Zoldan titled, “Mimicking the physical cues of the ECM in angiogenic biomaterials”, in the journal Regenerative Biomaterials. Thank you to chief editor and UT professor Dr. Nicholas Peppas for the opportunity to publish our summary and predictions for this burgeoning field! The abstract is listed below and the paper can be accessed here:
A functional microvascular system is imperative to build and maintain healthy tissue. Impaired microvasculature results in ischemia, thereby limiting the tissue’s intrinsic regeneration capacity. Therefore, the ability to regenerate microvascular networks is key to the development of effective cardiovascular therapies. To stimulate the formation of new microvasculature, researchers have focused on fabricating materials that mimic the angiogenic properties of the native extracellular matrix (ECM). Here, we will review biomaterials that seek to imitate the physical cues that are natively provided by the ECM to encourage the formation of microvasculature in engineered constructs and ischemic tissue in the body.