Scaffolds for use in medicine and biology might be traced back to the 1940’s when parachute cloth was first used for vascular prostheses. However, in the mid-1980’s scaffolds took off as an essential tool in tissue engineering. This talk will explore some of the basic biology of porosities, roughness and textures on cell responses in vitro and tissue responses in vivo. University of Washington studies will be presented demonstrating enhanced healing and regeneration with precision control of pore structures for in vivo applications. The use of surface techniques and tools will be addressed for decorating the surfaces of scaffolds with biological molecules. Finally, the potential of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) for analyzing and imaging pore structure will be addressed.