UCI : Aesthetic & Plastic Surgery Institute

Plastic surgeons are not just surgeons for cosmetic improvements, they are pioneers for increasing the quality of life. The laboratory for the Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery Institute at the University of California, Irvine is constantly seeking new ways to advance the knowledge of the human body.

Investigating novel ways to replace tissue through application of tissue engineering is currently being resesarched at the Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery Institute. There are approximately 6,000,000 surgical procedures performed annually in the United States to treat tissue and organ deficiencies, and these associated medical costs exceed $400 billion annually. Tissue engineering has great potential in extending the quality of life and reducing the cost of health care. The field of Tissue Engineering has made significant strides over the last decade. Initially coined in the late 1980's, the field of Tissue Engineering seeks to find biological substitutes to restore and establish those tissues which bad fortune has taken away.

The laboratory is also currently focusing on nerve, bone, cartilage, and skin replacements. With collaborations between the Center for Biomedical Engineering, the Reeves Research Institute, the Departments of Biology and Molecular Biology, constructs composed of cellular and biodegredable materials are being fabricated for tissue reconstruction. The collaboration with each industry forms a circle encompassing the clinical sciences and basic sciences. It is the interaction that advances the science of tissue engineering from the laboratory to clincical products.