Cartilage Tissue Engineering Group.

This is a reference page.For the institute’s current cartilage and tissue-engineering research, visit the official site at mccaig.ucalgary.ca and the institute’s member directory.

Why cartilage matters

Articular cartilage is the smooth, low-friction tissue that lines the ends of bones in synovial joints. It allows joints to move freely, transmits and distributes load, and protects underlying bone. Unlike most tissues, mature articular cartilage has a very limited intrinsic capacity to heal: once damaged, it tends to deteriorate progressively, leading to pain, loss of function, and — in many cases — clinical osteoarthritis.

Tissue engineering aims to address this gap by combining cells, scaffolds, and biological signalling cues to produce cartilage-like tissue that can integrate with the joint. Synovial tissue — the membrane lining synovial joints — contains progenitor cells with chondrogenic potential and has emerged as a promising cell source for these approaches.

Research themes

Work in this area at the McCaig Institute and partner labs in Calgary and Edmonton has historically clustered around several themes:

• Cell sourcing. Identifying and characterising the chondrogenic potential of synovium-derived progenitor cells, mesenchymal stromal cells, and other adult cell populations as alternatives to autologous chondrocytes.
• Scaffolds and biomaterials. Designing three-dimensional environments — natural and synthetic — that support the growth and organisation of cartilage tissue under physiologically relevant loading.
• Biomechanical and biological signalling. Understanding how mechanical loading, growth factors, and the joint micro-environment regulate cartilage matrix production and tissue maturation.
• Translation. Moving promising findings from bench-side experiments through pre-clinical models toward clinical application — in collaboration with orthopaedic surgeons and clinical researchers at the institute.

Why this work sits at the McCaig Institute

Cartilage tissue engineering is intrinsically multidisciplinary: it depends on cell biologists, biomaterials scientists, biomechanical engineers, radiologists for non-invasive imaging endpoints, and orthopaedic surgeons to translate findings into surgical practice. The McCaig Institute’s integrative model — with all these disciplines under one roof at the Cumming School of Medicine — is well-suited to that kind of work.