· 10 min read
Computational tissue engineering and why the field is still experimental
Computers already help design scaffolds and bioreactors, yet tissue engineering still depends on making things and testing them. Why simulation has not replaced the experiment here, and what would have to change.
- Computation is already good at narrowing the options, from bioreactor flow rates to which formulations to try first.
- It cannot yet guarantee an outcome, because cell behaviour has no agreed governing laws and the inputs vary from batch to batch.
- In my reading of the field, most models are tested on data like their training data; few are tested on new experiments in other labs.