Scaffolds are materials that have been engineered to cause desirable cellular interactions to contribute to the formation of new functional tissues for medical purposes. Cells are often 'seeded' into these structures capable of supporting three-dimensional tissue formation. Scaffolds mimic the extracellular matrix of the native tissue, recapitulating the "in vivo" milieu and allowing cells to influence their own microenvironments. They usually serve at least one of the following purposes: allow cell attachment and migration, deliver and retain cells and biochemical factors, enable diffusion of vital cell nutrients and expressed products, exert certain mechanical and biological influences to modify the behaviour of the cell phase.