decellularized organ

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All tissue engineering and regenerative medicine scaffolds try to mimic some characteristic of the natural extracellular matrix, or ECM.  It supports growth of blood vessels, nerves, and allows sufficient diffusion of nutrients to keep native tissue healthy.  Usually scientists and engineers try to isolate just a few of the characteristics of the ECM, such as mechanical properties, three dimensional structure, and inclusion of proteins or other functional molecules. A few researchers have decided to not to mimic ECM and instead…