Organizational aspects of tissue engineering clinical translation: insights from a qualitative case study

Tissue engineering is a multidisciplinary field that combines principles from cell biology, bioengineering, material sciences, medicine and surgery to create functional and viable bioproducts that can be used to repair or replace damaged or diseased tissues in the human body. The complexity of tissue engineering can affect the prospects of efficiently translating scientific discoveries in the field into scalable clinical approaches that could benefit patients. Organizational challenges may play a key role in the clinical translation of tissue engineering for the benefit of patients. To gain insight into the organizational aspects of tissue engineering that may create impediments to efficient clinical translation, we conducted a retrospective qualitative case study of one tissue engineering multi-site translational project on knee cartilage engineered tissue grafts. We collected qualitative data using a set of different methods: semi-structured interviews, documentary research and audio-visual content analysis. Our study identified various challenges associated to first-in-human trials in tissue engineering particularly related to: logistics and communication; research participant recruitment; clinician and medical student participation; study management; and regulation. While not directly generalizable to other types of advanced therapies or to regenerative medicine in general, our results offer valuable insights into organizational barriers that may prevent efficient clinical translation in the field of tissue engineering.