James W. Polarek

TL;DR: Genetic engineering has made great progress in the areas of recombinant collagen and gelatin expression, and there are now several alternatives to bovine material that offer an enhanced safety profile, greater reproducibility and quality, and the ability of these materials to be tailored to enhance product performance.

TL;DR: A phase 1 clinical study in which biosynthetic mimics of corneal extracellular matrix were implanted to replace the pathologic anterior cornea of 10 patients who had significant vision loss, with the aim of facilitating endogenous tissue regeneration without the use of human donor tissue.

TL;DR: Recombinant human collagens are an efficient scaffold for bone repair when combined with a recombinant bone morphogenetic protein in a porous, sponge-like format, and when presented as a membrane, sponge or gel can serve as a basis for the engineering of skin, cartilage and periodontal ligament, depending on the specific requirements of the chosen application.

TL;DR: Cell-free implants, comprising carbodiimide crosslinked recombinant human collagen (RHC) can achieve stable regeneration and therefore, represent a potentially safe alternative to donor organ transplantation.

TL;DR: The replacement of animal-derived collagen and gelatin with rhC and rG will result in products with improved safety, traceability, reproducibility, and quality.