Stem cell behaviours and functions modulated by biomaterials

Stem cells have shown the great potential as a candidate for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, the main challenge must be overcome about the controlled regulation of stem cell growth and differentiation before its wide clinical applications. Recent advances in biomaterial engineering and scaffold fabrication may provide a powerful tool towards solving this problem. In this article, silk based biomaterials, nanoscale biomaterials and polymer-ceramic hybrid composites are introduced which represent the new biomaterials in the field of tissue engineering. Moreover, researchers have incorporated signals directly into the biomaterials by novel processing techniques such as surface modification techniques, self-assembly process and rapid prototyping techniques. Additionally, we review the recent research in the area of high throughput approaches towards characterisation and optimisation of stem cell-material interactions and discuss the future directions of biomaterials in tissue engineering.