Tissue engineering with a long term goal of addressing the shortage of donor organs for transplantation,by designing suitable organs \/ biological substitutes is a major thrust area of this Division.The division has ambitious research programmes to create “organs” such as pancreas, cartilage, blood vessels etc,that may be available “off the shelf” and impact clinical applications.Current major research programs of the division have been directed to develop (a) novel,biodegradable and bio mimetic “designer” scaffolds (b) understand the regeneration processes using adult cells and directed stem cell differentiation,and (c)delineate the molecular pathways that regulates the growth factors and other molecules or drugs to promote regeneration.. Other areas of our interest deal with usage of bioreactors, wherein the “in vivo” environment is recapitulated and monitored “in vitro,” while exerting physiologically relevant mechanical and biochemical stimuli to guide neo tissue development. The division also contributes to other lab and institutional programs (e.g. lung, bone) with “designer” scaffolds. Development of biopolymer composites for medical applications is another important area of research. Scaffolds made by conventional techniques and electro spinning as well as regulator combinations generated by our division, find additional applications in drug delivery, wound healing and haemostats.The division has been supported with project grants from DST, DBT Govt of India, and KSTEC, Kerala, been the Nodal centre for the Joint Indo-US Centre for Stem Cells & Tissue Engineering supported by IUSSTF and is the Lead for the Centre of Excellence in Tissue engineering program with support from DBT, Govt of India.<\/p>\n