In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the university has prohibited gatherings/meetings as part of the social distancing approach to managing the spread of this disease. This prohibition has been extended periodically and it is unclear how long it will last.  As a result, in person training activities and courses are on hold.

This Biomedical Technology Resource Center, the Case Western Reserve University Center for Multimodal Evaluation of Engineered Cartilage, is a platform for multidisciplinary Collaborative and Service Interactions and a broadly accessible resource for developing, testing, validating, and disseminating new methods of evaluating tissue engineered products. The purpose of the Center is to provide, in one location, all the technology and expertise needed to comprehensively evaluate engineered cartilage from the cell and molecular biology, biomechanical, and biotransport aspects.

The focus is on cartilage, but the technology we develop at the Center will be versatile and applicable to other tissue types as the concept of multimodal evaluation is fundamental to all types of tissue constructs. When implanted, an engineered tissue will ultimately have to take over all the essential functions of its target tissue. Failure can occur in many modes, and multiple minor deficiencies can have a cumulative effect. This has led us to conclude that robust and validated tools for continuous monitoring and assessment of the entire tissue engineering process, and of its end-product, are going to become essential. We realize that monitoring and assessment tools cannot focus on just one aspect of the TE process, but must address the biological, biochemical and biomechanical aspects of the process. Such tools will guide the research and development of new TE strategies.

Members of the CCMEEC team have collaborated for decades on cartilage tissue engineering and the level of experience, expertise, and technology related to cartilage tissue engineering available at this center is unmatched.

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