Neural Differentiation on Synthetic Scaffold Materials

This article illustrates the way researchers have been able to mimic extracellular matrices of the brain in or order to provide an environment for neural stem cell differentiation. The potential of stem cells to differentiate into a variety of subgroups of neural cells makes stem cell differentiation and transplantation a promising candidate for neurodegenerative disorder therapies but this is an extremely complex which is why research on this matter is so important. Synthetic scaffolds have been made that can direct neural lineage by including extracellular factors that act on cell fate. This article reviews synthetic materials developed for neural regeneration in terms of their extracellular matrix mimicking properties. It is interesting to see how close researchers have come to replicating neural tissue through the process of stem cell differentiation which is a process that has been discussed a lot in class as of recently.  The brain is so complex and incredibly hard to understand so the fact that biomedical engineers are getting so close to mimicking its functions is almost unbelievable.

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2013/bm/c3bm60150a#!divAbstract