The central premise of the Systems-based Consortium for Organ Design and Engineering (SysCODE) is that fundamental principles can be deduced about how nature builds organs. We will use these principles to design and fabricate organ parts. Our goals are to build

• tooth germ to repair tooth loss
• pancreatic islets to treat Type I diabetics
• heart valves to treat valvular heart disease and congenital heart defects

Choosing these organ parts derives from a careful consideration of the state of knowledge about the development of each organ, the strengths and weaknesses of each as a model system, and the available expertise and scientific synergies that currently exist within the Harvard, MIT, Boston University and Vanderbilt scientific communities.