The present invention relates to a three dimensional, malleable cell culture composition and method of forming the same comprising hyaluronic acid, chitosan and a polyelectrolytic complex of hyaluronic acid and chitosan. These three components in combination constitute an initial microenvironment for support of stromal cells, and their undifferentiated mesenchymal cell progeny. The tissue engineering device and method of forming the same comprising hyaluronic acid and chitosan and the use of said device with compositions of pluripotent cells and various formulations of cell culture media for repair of tissues is disclosed.