• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.250-255
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• 2011

In multicellular organisms, including humans, understanding expression specificity at the tissue level is essential for interpreting protein function, such as tissue differentiation. We developed a prediction approach via generated sequence features from overrepresented patterns in housekeeping (HK) and tissue-specific (TS) genes to classify TS expression in humans. Using TS domains and transcriptional factor binding sites (TFBSs), sequence characteristics were used as indices of expressed tissues in a Random Forest algorithm by scoring exclusive patterns considering the biological intuition; TFBSs regulate gene expression, and the domains reflect the functional specificity of a TS gene. Our proposed approach displayed better performance than previous attempts and was validated using computational and experimental methods.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.28-37
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• 2003

Tissue engineering and stem cells show potentials to restore lost or malfunctioning human tissues or organs. Another cell source for tissue engineering of cardiovascular tissues is stem cell. This study reports the development of cardiovascular tissues using tissue engineering and mesenchymal stem cells. The blood vessels and heart valves were fabricated by culturing mesenchymal stem cells on biodegradable synthetic or natural matrices. Bone marrow was isolated from dogs or rats and mesenchymal stem cells were cultured. The cells were seeded onto biodegradable synthetic or natural matrices and implanted in dogs. Histological and immunohistochemical analyses were performed to examine the regenerated cardiovascular tissues. Histological and immunohistochemical analyses showed the complete regeneration of blood vessels and heart valves. Fluorescent labeling of cells prior to implantation and fluorescence examination of the regenerated tissues revealed that the implanted cells reconstituted the cardiovascular tissues. This study demonstrates the potential of tissue engineering and mesenchymal stem cells for the regeneration of functional cardiovascular tissues or organs.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.10
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• pp.548-553
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• 2016

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are widely used in cartilage tissue engineering to repair articular cartilage defects. However, hypertrophy of chondrocytes derived from MSCs might hinder the stabilization of hyaline cartilage. Thus, it is very important to find a suitable way to maintain the chondrogenic phenotype of chondrocytes. It has been reported that cordycepin has anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor functions. However, the role of cordycepin in chondrocyte hypertrophy remains unclear. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effect of cordycepin on chondrogenesis and chondrocyte hypertrophy in MSCs and ATDC5 cells. Cordycepin upregulated chondrogenic markers including Sox9 and collagen type II while down-regulated hypertrophic markers including Runx2 and collagen type X. Further exploration showed that cordycepin promoted chondrogenesis through inhibiting Nrf2 while activating BMP signaling. Besides, cordycepin suppressed chondrocyte hypertrophy through PI3K/Bapx1 pathway and Notch signaling. Our results indicated cordycepin had the potential to maintain chondrocyte phenotype and reconstruct engineered cartilage.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2015

Tissue engineering is an emerging, innovative technology to improve or replace the biological functions of damaged tissues and organs. Scaffolds are important materials for tissue engineering as they support cell attachment, migration, and differentiation. Marine sponges naturally contain scaffolds formed by extracellular matrix proteins (collagen and sponging) and strengthened by a siliceous or calcium carbonate skeleton. Coral skeletons are also derived naturally formed by essential calcium carbonate in the form of aragonite, and are similar to human bone. In addition, collagen extracted from jellyfish is a biosafe alternative to bovine and porcine collagen and gained attention as a potential source for tissue engineering. Moreover, cuttlefish bone is an excellent calcium source and can be used to generate bio-synthetic calcium phosphate. It has become a natural candidate for biomimetic scaffolds. This review describes the use of natural products derived from marine invertebrates for applications in bone tissue engineering based on studies from 2008 to 2014.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.480-483
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• 2021

Tissue regeneration is one of the ultimate goals of maxillofacial surgery and various types of tissue engineering technologies have been utilized in clinics. Healthy resources of host cells and growth factors are essential for the tissue engineering, therefore autologous blood-derived cell therapy was introduced. In this article, clinical applications of the autologous platelet concentrates and stem cell separation therapy will be summarized and evaluated for their efficacy and feasibility in the current maxillofacial clinics.

• Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
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• v.67
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• pp.388-395
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• 2018

Significant efforts have been applied toward fabricating three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds using 3D-bioprinting tissue engineering techniques. Gelatin has been used in 3D-bioprinting to produce designed 3D scaffolds; however, gelatin has a poor printability and is not useful for fabricating desired 3D scaffolds using 3D-bioprinting. In this study, we fabricated pore size controlled 3D gelatin scaffolds with two step 3D-bioprinting approach: a low-temperature ($-10^{\circ}C$) freezing step and a crosslinking process. The scaffold was crosslinked with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS). The pore sizes of the produced 3D gelatin scaffolds were approximately 30% smaller than the sizes of the designed pore sizes. The surface morphologies and pore sizes of the 3D gelatin scaffolds were confirmed and measured using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) were cultured on a 3D gelatin scaffold to evaluate the effect of the 3D gelatin scaffold pore size on the cell proliferation. After 14 days of culture, HDFs proliferation throughout the 3D gelatin scaffolds prepared with more than $580{\mu}m$ pore size was approximately 14% higher than proliferation throughout the 3D gelatin scaffold prepared with a $435{\mu}m$ pore size. These results suggested that control over the 3D gelatin scaffold pore size is important for tissue engineering scaffolds.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.18-22
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• 2009

Laser has been widely used in various fields of medicine. Recently, noninvasive low-level laser therapeutic medical devices have been introduced in market. However, low-level laser cannot deliver enough photon density to expect positive therapeutic results in deep tissue layer due to the light scattering property in tissue. In order to overcome the limitation, this study was aimed to develop a negative pressure applied low-level laser probe to optimize laser transmission pattern and therefore, to improve photon density in soft tissue. In order to evaluate the possibility of clinical application of the developed laser probe, ex-vivo experiments were performed with porcine skin samples and laser transmissions were quantitatively measured as a function of tissue compression. The laser probe has an air suction hole to apply negative pressure to skin, a transparent plastic body to observe variations of tissue, and a small metallic optical fiber guide to support the optical fiber when negative pressure was applied. By applying negative pressure to the laser probe, the porcine skin under the metallic optical fiber guide is compressed down and, at the same time, low-level laser is emitted into the skin. Finally, the diffusion images of laser in the sample were acquired by a CCD camera and analyzed. Compared to the peak intensity without the compression, the peak intensity of laser increased about $2{\sim}2.5$ times and FWHM decreased about $1.67{\sim}2.85$ times. In addition, the laser peak intensity was positively and linearly increased as a function of compression. In conclusion, we verified that the developed low-level laser probe can control the photon density in tissue by applying compression, and therefore, its potential for clinical applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.3-23
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• 2017

The achievement of tissue engineering can be highly depending on the capability to generate complicated, cell seeded three dimensional (3D) micro/nano-structures. So, various fabrication techniques that can be used to precisely design the architecture and topography of scaffolding materials will signify a key aspect of multi-functional tissue engineering. Previous methods for obtaining scaffolds based on top-down are often not satisfactory to produce complex micro/nano-structures due to the lack of control on scaffold architecture, porosity, and cellular interactions. However, a bioprinting method can be used to design sophisticated 3D tissue scaffolds that can be engineered to mimic the tissue architecture using computer aided approach. Also, in recent, the method has been modified and optimized to fabricate scaffolds using various natural biopolymers (collagen, alginate, and chitosan etc.). Variation of the topological structure and polymer concentration allowed tailoring the physical and biological properties of the scaffolds. In this presentation, the 3D bioprinting supplemented with a newly designed plasma treatment for attaining highly bioactive and functional scaffolds for tissue engineering applications will be introduced. Moreover, various in vivo and in vitro results will show that the fabricated scaffolds can carry out their structural and biological functionality.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.453-456
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• 2001

Background: Autogenous alveolar bone cell transplantation may be suitable for tissue engineering for alveolar bone reconstruction. This study aimed to isolate human alveolar bone-derived cells (HABDCs) and to evaluate the ability of collagen gels to support HABDC proliferation and differentiation for human alveolar bone tissue engineering applications. Method: Cultures of primary HABDCs were established from alveolar bone chips obtained from 10 persons undergoing tooth extraction. These cells were expanded in vitro until passage 3 and used for the in vitro characterization of HABDCs and the in vitro analysis of collagen gels for alveolar bone tissue engineering. Results: Of the 10 attempts made to obtain HABDC cultures, eight were successful. HABDCs expressed the osteoblastic phenotype characterized by alkaline phosphatase activity, osteocalcin expression and the mineralization of the extracellular matrix in vitro. When seeded on collagen gels, HABDCs penetrated into the collagen gel matrices and proliferated inside the gels. Significantly, when HABDCs were embedded into the gels, collagen fibers and mineralization were produced within the gels. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the feasibility of using cultured HABDCs and collagen gels for human alveolar bone tissue engineering applications.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.48-50
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• 2002

Cartilage defects are common and painful conditions that affect people of all ages. Although many techniques have developed, none of the current available treatment options is satisfactory. Recent advances in biology and materials science have pushed tissue engineering to the forefront of new cartilage repair techniques. The purpose of this study is to determine effective regeneration method for tissue-engineered cartilage. A serum free medium was developed for cartilage tissue engineering. Chondrocyte passage number was found to influence greatly on cartilage tissue formation in vivo. Injectable, biodegradable polymer matrix was developed for chondrocyte transplantation through injection. Transplantation of chondrocytes mixed with the injectable matrices resulted in the cartilage formation in nude mice's subcutaneous sites and rabbit knees. This study may lead to the development of tissue-engineered cartilage appropriate for clinical applications.