The emerging technology of tissue engineering eventually could provide therapies for a wide range of diseases and injuries.

Heart failure, diabetes, chronic ulcers and neurodegenerative disorders are just a few of the diseases and conditions that could be treated using the new technology.

Italian pharmaceutical company Fidia is leading the project along with the University of Liverpool.

The research effort will utilize the expertise of 23 academic and industrial partners across Europe to accelerate the development of tissue engineering. The European Commission is funding the 17-million pound project.

Tissue Specific to Patient

"For tissue engineering to be successful clinically, it has to be able to generate exactly the right type of tissue -- specific to a patient -- in a cost-effective manner," said Professor David Williams, Director of the UK Centre For Tissue Engineering at the University of Liverpool.

"This is not really being achieved anywhere in the world yet," he noted, "but this major new project will bring together a team with critical mass and a range of expertise from stem-cell biology to bio-manufacturing processes, including ethics and business models."

Emerging Technology

The emerging technology of tissue engineering eventually could provide therapies for a wide range of diseases and injuries. It involves taking human cells -- such as stem cells -- from blood or bone marrow, and encouraging those cells to produce new tissue through the use of growth factors.

Liverpool researchers have been developing methods of growing a variety of tissue -- including human arteries -- from adult stem cells.

Blood vessels grown in the laboratory could be used to replace clogged arteries in patients suffering from coronary heart disease, for example.