Abstract:
Our studies have shown that mineralised matrices contain reservoirs of bioactive molecules capable of directing tissue repair. Elucidating the release mechanisms of such endogenous growth factors will enhance our understanding of bone healing and regeneration and support the development of novel treatment modalities to enhance bone repair following trauma, disease or surgery. To this end, there is a need for better effective methods of assessing therapeutic approaches to improving bone repair at the cellular and gross tissue level. Experimental modelling of bone regeneration, inflammatory bone destruction and the factors influencing matrix secretion is hampered by the lack of suitable models. Whilst in vivo experimentation has yielded considerable information on the processes taking place, they are limited, due to the cost of running such experiments, the difficulty in obtaining clear data and ethical implications. In vitro cell culture systems are also limiting as such studies can be far removed from the in vivo situation as cell/cell interaction between differing cell types may influence behaviour. Ex vivo organotypic cultures, whereby cells and tissues are cultured in situ may provide a more suitable model system. This plenary will discuss the strengths and limitations of our novel model systems for mineralised tissue engineering and regeneration and how they may be used in the development of novel treatment modalities.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Alastair J Sloan is a Senior Lecturer in Bone Biology and Tissue Engineering at the School of Dentistry, Cardiff University. He obtained his BSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Wales in 1993 and his PhD in Oral Cell Biology from the University of Birmingham in 1997. Following postdoctoral research, he took a lectureship in Oral Biology at the University of Birmingham, School of Dentistry in 2000 prior to his appointment in Cardiff in 2005.
He has a long standing interest in mineralised tissue regeneration, focussing on bone and dentine and the translation of the understanding of these processes to novel clinical treatments. He established the Mineralised Tissue Research Group at the School of Dentistry, Cardiff, whose current interests include osseointegration and bone regeneration, inflammatory mediated mineralised tissue destruction, development of novel organotypic models to investigate tissue injury and repair and the role of stem/progenitor cells in tissue regeneration. He has published over 35 research papers and presented at international conferences on dental research, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, winning the Mineralised Tissue Group Research Prize of the British Society for Dental Research (BSDR) in 1998. He is currently President Elect of the Pulp Biology and Regeneration Research Group of the International Association for Dental Research and a member of the management committee of the BSDR and holds memberships of, amongst others, TERMIS, The Anatomical Society for GB&I, Institute of Biology and UK Stem Cell Network.