Tissue Engineering: A Biological Art Form

by Sarina Lau, Chemistry Major, 2024

What is it?

The emerging field of tissue engineering has many possible applications within the human biological system, but it is hardly ever discussed as a form of art. Regeneration of tissue for the purposes of repairing damaged systems within the body “as a result of trauma, injury, disease, or aging” is in itself a beautiful and powerful form of art (Rahaman, 2011). In the past two decades, there have been tremendous strides in research despite the field of tissue engineering originating in the late 1980s (Jones, 2008). During the beginning stages of development in this field, the first bioactive glass device was developed for the purpose of treating conductive hearing loss by replacing the ossicle bones of the middle ear (Jones, 2008). Research involving bioactive glass has discovered the benefits of using this material since it contains sodium and calcium as well as the ability to release the calcium into the circulatory system to produce hydroxyapatite (HA). HA, an important component of human bone, has the potential to be extremely useful in the development of new bone within the human body making bioactive glass a growing field in materials science (Grayson, 2017).

Figure 1. Diagram depicting the numerous characteristics of bioactive glass material for tissue regeneration and their ability to bond with human bone. Photo courtesy of Mo-Sci Corporation.

The future of tissue engineering: where is current research taking us?

Current research within this field has advanced significantly, including the implementation of borosilicate, boron, and other types of bioactive glass for tissue regeneration due to adjustable degradation rates in comparison to silicates (Rahaman, 2011). In the upcoming summer, I plan to study and synthesize these bioactive glasses at Rutgers University and establish their composition-structureproperty relationships useful for the development of a new method in soft tissue engineering.

Bioethics and society

A substantial step towards making medical and scientific advancements is educating the population for which these advancements are made. More specifically, why do we care about tissue engineering? Many examples — including organ transplantation — already exist.

Research within tissue engineering aims to promote a longer lifespan, lower healthcare bills overall, decrease morbidity, and minimize ethical issues related to medical treatment including ethical issues surrounding organ transplantation (Ko, 2006, p. 2). Progression within this field will be helpful during this current time period as human life expectancy increases and people are more at risk of developing health complications and diseases. The increasing risk of health issues gives researchers and engineers a higher expectation of the “efficacy and quality of medical treatment” that are “inherent in the high-tech society” (Ko, 2006, p. 2). Tissue engineering tackles these higher expectations while addressing the challenges of organ transplants. Some of these issues include having to be placed on a waitlist for organ transplants and the extreme medical expenses that come with these procedures. Progression within this field will be helpful during this current time period as human life expectancy increases and people are more at risk of developing health complications and diseases.

Many ethical issues come with the use of organ transplants including the use of animal organs, or xenotransplantation, and the use of deceased human donors, or allotransplantation. There are also ethical questions regarding the use of extracorporeal devices including dialysis machines and implantable devices (Ko, 2006, p. 4). Using tissue engineering, researchers can “draw upon our own body’s regenerative abilities and cells to create treatments that are completely ‘natural’, completely avoid immune system rejection, and avoid ethical issues…” (Ko, 2006, p. 4).

Tissue engineering as a biological art

Aside from the purposes of human treatment, tissue culture and engineering has been implemented into art forms to further engage human populations in ethical issues in tissue engineering and biotechnology. One famous exhibit established in

1996, The Tissue Culture and Art Project, “explores how tissue engineering can be used as a medium for artistic expression” (Catts & Zurr, 2022). Created by Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, the exhibit incorporates tissue cultured clothing and structures, lab grown food, and semi-living sculptures to redefine the relationship between humans and nonliving objects.

Catts and Zurr coined the term semi-living in the design of their artwork and the entire project to describe a different category of life that originates from a laboratory. To be semi-living involves the isolation of cells and tissues from organisms and the requirement of human and technological intervention for survival (Catts & Zurr, 2022). Using these semi-living objects to create art, Catts and Zurr hope to examine “the position of the human in regard to other living beings and the environment” and explore philosophical, cultural, and ethical purposes of the semi-living and the future uses they offer to humans. To be semi-living involves the isolation of cells and tissues from organisms and the requirement of human and technological intervention for survival (Catts & Zurr, 2022).

One of the pieces of art I find most meaningful by Catts and Zurr is the Semi-Living Worry Doll. Sculpted from biodegradable polymers — including PGA and P4HB — and surgical sutures, these worry dolls have a deep meaning in the scientific realm (Catts, 2017). They based this artwork off the old tale that Indigenous Guatemalans told their children, who would have six worry dolls to express their worries and concerns to at bedtime. Catts and Zurr created seven of these genderless dolls, for there are many people who are no longer children and have far more than six worries (Catts, 2017). Each worry doll has a different letter representing a different worry relating to societal, philosophical, and scientific ethical issues. My personal favorite is Doll G, which is actually not a doll as the genes are present in all semi-living dolls (Catts, 2017). To be more specific, each of these dolls are sterilized with endothelial, muscle, and osteoblasts cells that are grown over the polymers, which degrade as tissue grows (Catts, 2017). Figure 2: A Semi-Living Worry Doll H: The TC&A Project from the Tissue Culture & Art(ificial) Wombs Installation, Ars Electronica 2000. Photo courtesy of Internalia Magazine.

Another one of my favorite artworks by Catts and Zurr is Victimless Leather. Catts and Zurr grew living tissue into a leather-like material to confront the moral implications of wearing dead animal parts for “protective and aesthetic reasons” and addresses the relationships of manipulated living systems for human benefit (Catts, 2017). This artwork uses the medium of biodegradable polymers of connective and bone cells which allows for the audience and viewers to question our usage of other living beings for materialistic purposes. By using semi-living parts of living systems we are familiar with and displaying it as an art project, Catts and Zurr take a somewhat ironic approach to showcase the “technological price” society will pay for achieving a “victimless utopia” (Catts, 2017). As a person who is strongly against the use of animal skins and fur for everyday materialistic items, I enjoyed reading about this artwork and believe that it would be impactful for those who are interested in understanding the impacts of this common method of designing clothes. Figure 3: Victimless Leather - A Prototype of a Stitch-less Jacket grown in a Technoscientific “Body” TC&A Project. Photo courtesy of Interalia Magazine.

On the topic of how technology has introduced the idea of a victimless utopia, Catts and Zurr have created another artwork that also uses biodegradable polymers from connective and bone cells of prenatal sheep to make a Semi Living Steak. The idea for this project emerged from Zurr’s research residency at Massachusetts General Hospital of Harvard Medical School from 2000 to 2001 in the Tissue Engineering and Organ Fabrication Laboratory (Catts, 2017). The skeletal muscles of the prenatal sheep were used as part of research for in utero tissue engineering techniques. Aside from its uses in research, Catts and Zurr decided to design a semi-living steak to provide a physical representation of the unborn sheep’s semi-living components as they are removed from the host. By showcasing this, they reintroduce the explicit violence that has been diminished by society into implicit violence when it comes to consumption of “victimless meat” (Catts, 2017). This project addresses the most common means of interaction between humans and the living world — food. By showcasing this, they reintroduce the explicit violence that has diminished by society into implicit violence when it comes to consumption of “victimless meat” (Catts, 2017).

Figure 3: Semi Living Steak 2000, TC&A Project. Photo Courtesy of Interalia Magazine.

In its many applications, tissue engineering has provided our society and patient populations with many benefits in both biomedical treatment and through artistic mediums. Both the medical and artistic forms of tissue regeneration highlight the ethical issues between science and society in meaningful ways that have the potential to change the progression of medicine and society’s perspective of our interactions with the living communities around us.

References

1. Catts, O., & Zurr, I. (2017, November). The Tissue Culture & Art Project. Internalia Magazine. Retrieved March 12, 2022, from https://www.interaliamag.org/art1. Catts, O., & Zurr, I. (2017, November). The Tissue Culture & Art Project. Internalia Magazine. Retrieved March 12, 2022, from https://www.interaliamag.org/art

2. Grayson, K. (2017, September 26). 3D Printing Bioactive Glass Scaffolds for Tissue Regeneration. Mo Sci Corporation. Retrieved March 12, 2022, from https://mo-sci.com/3d-printing-bioactive-glass-scaffolds-for-tissue-regeneration/.

3. Jones, J. R. (2008). Bioactive Glass. Bioglass - an overview. Retrieved March 12, 2022, from https://www. sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/bioglass.

4. Ko, H., Catts, O., & McFarland, C. (n.d.). 9th International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST). In PCST Network (pp. 1–6). Seoul. Retrieved from https://pcst.co/ archive/paper/1307.

5. Rahaman, M. N., Day, D. E., Bal, B. S., Fu, Q., Jung, S. B., Bonewald, L. F., & Tomsia, A. P. (2011, June). Bioactive glass in tissue engineering. Acta biomaterialia. Retrieved March 12, 2022, from https://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3085647/.

6. Tissue, Culture & Art Project. The Tissue Culture & Art Project. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2022, from https://tcaproject.net/about/.