Dr Tiago G. Fernandes is currently a Post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Lisbon, Portugal. His research interests are focused on the development of artificial cellular niches for studying the mechanisms that affect human stem cell pluripotency, and the cellular and molecular events that regulate stem cell functions. During his doctoral studies he also worked at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, USA, in the development of microscale platforms for high-throughput studies of stem cell fate. Dr Maria Margarida Diogo received her PhD degree in Biotechnology from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) from January 2000 to April 2004. Her thesis was dedicated to the development of Bioprocesses for Production and Purification of Plasmid DNA for Gene Therapy and DNA vaccines. As a result of this work, a United States Patent was published in 2007. From April 2004 to March 2008 she received a post-doctoral fellowship to work in the field of Stem Cell Bioengineering and she is presently a Research Scientist at the Stem Cell Bioengineering Laboratory at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST). Dr Joaquim M. S. Cabral is Professor of Biological Engineering, in the Department of Bioengineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal. He was the founder and current Head of Department of Bioengineering, and the Director of the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, a Research Laboratory Associated to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education in Portugal. His research aims at contributing to biochemical engineering science through novel developments in Bioprocess Engineering and Stem Cell Bioengineering.

• Introduction1. Pluripotent Stem Cell Biology and Engineering 2. Process Development and Manufacturing Approaches for Mesenchymal stem cell therapies3. Bio-inspired Materials and Tissue Engineering Approaches applied to the Regeneration of Musculoskeletal Tissues4. Bioengineering Strategies for Gene Delivery5. Advanced Microtechnologies for High-Throughput Screening6. Inductive Factors for generation of pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes 7. Pluripotent cells for the assessment of chemically-induced teratogenesis and developmental toxicology8. Conclusions and Closing Remarks

Dr Tiago G. Fernandes is currently a Post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Lisbon, Portugal. His research interests are focused on the development of artificial cellular niches for studying the mechanisms that affect human stem cell pluripotency, and the cellular and molecular events that regulate stem cell functions. During his doctoral studies he also worked at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, USA, in the development of microscale platforms for high-throughput studies of stem cell fate. Dr Maria Margarida Diogo received her PhD degree in Biotechnology from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) from January 2000 to April 2004. Her thesis was dedicated to the development of Bioprocesses for Production and Purification of Plasmid DNA for Gene Therapy and DNA vaccines. As a result of this work, a United States Patent was published in 2007. From April 2004 to March 2008 she received a post-doctoral fellowship to work in the field of Stem Cell Bioengineering and she is presently a Research Scientist at the Stem Cell Bioengineering Laboratory at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST). Dr Joaquim M. S. Cabral is Professor of Biological Engineering, in the Department of Bioengineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal. He was the founder and current Head of Department of Bioengineering, and the Director of the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, a Research Laboratory Associated to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education in Portugal. His research aims at contributing to biochemical engineering science through novel developments in Bioprocess Engineering and Stem Cell Bioengineering.

• Introduction1. Pluripotent Stem Cell Biology and Engineering 2. Process Development and Manufacturing Approaches for Mesenchymal stem cell therapies3. Bio-inspired Materials and Tissue Engineering Approaches applied to the Regeneration of Musculoskeletal Tissues4. Bioengineering Strategies for Gene Delivery5. Advanced Microtechnologies for High-Throughput Screening6. Inductive Factors for generation of pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes 7. Pluripotent cells for the assessment of chemically-induced teratogenesis and developmental toxicology8. Conclusions and Closing Remarks

Dr Tiago G. Fernandes is currently a Post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Lisbon, Portugal. His research interests are focused on the development of artificial cellular niches for studying the mechanisms that affect human stem cell pluripotency, and the cellular and molecular events that regulate stem cell functions. During his doctoral studies he also worked at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, USA, in the development of microscale platforms for high-throughput studies of stem cell fate. Dr Maria Margarida Diogo received her PhD degree in Biotechnology from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) from January 2000 to April 2004. Her thesis was dedicated to the development of Bioprocesses for Production and Purification of Plasmid DNA for Gene Therapy and DNA vaccines. As a result of this work, a United States Patent was published in 2007. From April 2004 to March 2008 she received a post-doctoral fellowship to work in the field of Stem Cell Bioengineering and she is presently a Research Scientist at the Stem Cell Bioengineering Laboratory at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST). Dr Joaquim M. S. Cabral is Professor of Biological Engineering, in the Department of Bioengineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal. He was the founder and current Head of Department of Bioengineering, and the Director of the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, a Research Laboratory Associated to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education in Portugal. His research aims at contributing to biochemical engineering science through novel developments in Bioprocess Engineering and Stem Cell Bioengineering.

• Introduction1. Pluripotent Stem Cell Biology and Engineering 2. Process Development and Manufacturing Approaches for Mesenchymal stem cell therapies3. Bio-inspired Materials and Tissue Engineering Approaches applied to the Regeneration of Musculoskeletal Tissues4. Bioengineering Strategies for Gene Delivery5. Advanced Microtechnologies for High-Throughput Screening6. Inductive Factors for generation of pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes 7. Pluripotent cells for the assessment of chemically-induced teratogenesis and developmental toxicology8. Conclusions and Closing Remarks