Stem cell-based treatment has become more and more appealing to solve clinical challenges. Commonly used stem cells are mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). For their clinical applications, the number and quality of stem cells are pivotal. The conventional tissue culture methods have encountered many disadvantages, including but not limited to deteriorating replications, reduced colony-forming efficiency, and compromised expression of pluripotency markers over a consecutive long culture period. To address the above concerns, innovative stem cell culture technologies with efficient cell culture capacities are needed.

Recently, studies have shown that stem cells could ‘sense’ the culture environment and thus proliferate and differentiate. When it comes to applications in regenerative medicine, it is essential to provide the stem cells with appropriate signals to guide desired tissue engineering. There are several strategies following this direction: the employment of physical stimuli (e.g. nano-structures, mechanotransduction) that enhance cell proliferation and/or differentiation; the employment of chemical stimuli (e.g. drugs, ions) that enhance cell proliferation and/or differentiation; the employment of biological stimuli (e.g. growth factors) that enhance cell proliferation and/or differentiation; and the use of intelligent biomaterials that combine suitable biological/chemical/physical features for stem cell-based tissue regeneration.

This Special Issue aims to give important insights from leading experts in this field, describing how biomaterials with different physical, chemical, and biological properties interact with stem cells in their proliferation and fate determination. Particular interest is given to MSCs and iPSCs originating from dental tissues. This Special Issue will include original studies and reviews summarizing the current status and trends in the field.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Design of smart material surfaces to enhance cost-effectiveness of stem cell culture for laboratory and clinical applications
• The use of intelligent biomaterials, with microenvironment-adaptable chemical features (e.g. ions) for the proliferation and differentiation of iPSCs and MSCs
• Bio-fabrication of scaffolds to create a proper panel of physical stimuli (e.g. nano-structure, mechanotransduction) that leads to specific differentiations of iPSCs and MSCs
• Selection of growth factors (e.g. FGF, VEGF) that can provide the stem cell niche with specific biological stimuli that lead to specific differentiations of iPSCs and MSCs