Cartilage injuries and the associated chronic pain may be caused by osteoarthritis, degeneration, trauma and sports injuries. About 40% of adults over 65 years old have some form of cartilage damage and may require cartilage repairs. A team of biomedical engineers at HKU led by Professor Barbara Chan of the Faculty of Engineering has developed a new cartilage regeneration technology to grow cartilage tissues out of cells taken from a patient’s body. The cells, in particular stem cells extracted from a patient’s bone marrow, can be grown into cartilage tissues of the shape and size fit for cartilage repairs and replacements. The use of the regenerative complex tissue plugs will allow patients to have cartilage repairs without the need to transplant healthy cartilage from other parts of the joint, so patients could be benefited from faster healing. Find out more: www.livtis.com