Bone Physiology, Biomaterial and the Effect of Mechanical/Physical Microenvironment on MSC Osteogenesis: A Tribute to Shu Chien's 80th Birthday.

Professor Shu Chien is a world-renowned leader and founder of Bioengineering. In particular, he has made seminal contributions to advancing our systematic and insightful understanding of how cells perceive their physical/mechanical environment and coordinate cellular functions. In this review, as part of a tribute to Prof. Shu Chien's scientific achievement, we summarize the research progress in understanding the physiology of bone cells interacting with different mechanical/physical environments during bone tissue regeneration/repair. We first introduce the cellular composition of the bone tissue and the mechanism of the physiological bone regeneration/repair process. We then describe the properties and development of biomaterials for bone tissue engineering, followed by the highlighting of research progresses on the cellular response to mechanical environmental cues. Finally, several latest advancements in bone tissue regeneration and remaining challenges in the field are discussed for future research directions.