Tissue Engineering is considered to be the third treatment modality, complimenting current medical and surgical treatments. Biomaterials, growth factors, as well as stem cells (SC), both embryonic and adult tissue derived, play a critical role in this field of research and therefore a multidisciplinary approach is extremely beneficial for successful outcome.

To make therapeutic applications of SC possible, there are several important issues that need to be addressed. To avoid zoonosis, several laboratories have started to avoid animal-derived materials on cell cultures and they use protocols according to the spirit of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), which is required by EU legislation.

In this presentation, current use of custom designed tissue engineered “spare parts” as well as future perspectives of tissue engineering are being elaborated, emphasizing those treatment options currently under extensive research and clinical use in our unit. The help of rapid prototyping in scaffold preparation is also shown. The results of our nearly 30 patients’ clinical treatments in bone regeneration with adipose derived stem cells, mainly in craniomaxillofacial area, with stem cells are presented, too.