A glimpse of tissue engineering in China

Tissue engineering activities in China have expanded and advanced to the extent that it is not possible to acknowledge all of the work in one review. Substantial progress has been made in the development of novel biomaterial scaffolds and in the genetic manipulation of cells in vitro. Moreover, certain aspects of tissue engineering strategies have begun to undergo clinical trial. A glimpse of tissue engineering in China was afforded at the First International Conference on Biomaterials (China) held in Beijing, July 24-26, 2001. Several papers presented at the meeting, which was conducted in English only, reflected many of the tissue engineering activities in the country. A brief summary of some of the papers may begin to suggest possibilities for collaboration between tissue engineers inside and outside of China, as well as to facilitate dissemination of important findings.