If you are interested in this meeting but not yet ready to register, you can sign up for updates here and our team will keep you updated regarding deadline reminders and grant opportunities relating to this meeting only. 

This conference is a continuation of the Fibroblast Growth Factors in Development and Repair series with an expanded scope that includes other growth factors and cytokines that are involved in tissue repair and regeneration/regenerative medicine.

The Growth Factors in Regeneration and Regenerative Medicine Fusion Conference aims to bring together researchers and clinicians from different disciplines with an interest in the function of growth factors in tissue regeneration and their use for regenerative medicine. This meeting will provide a unique opportunity for academic and industrial researchers and clinicians to meet each other, to discuss projects, and to initiate new and in some cases highly interdisciplinary research projects and collaborations. 

See what our past particpants said about the FGF/Growth Factors series:

 "Thank you for organizing such a great conference and giving me the opportunity to be a part of it. It was so very welcoming...I do have more exciting unpublished results addressing the mechanisms of FGF signaling and tissue development. I hope to share them in the future meetings"

"Thanks once again for organising such a great meeting... Do not stop having them!!..."

Key Sessions

• Role of growth factors in stem cell biology
• Extracellular matrix regulation of growth factor signalling in tissue repair and regeneration
• Vasculature in tissue repair and regeneration
• Immune system in tissue repair and regeneration
• Growth factor function in tissue repair vs. cancer
• Growth factor-based tissue engineering for repair and regeneration

Student Offer

Take advantage of this fantastic opportunity for students! Fully paying academics can bring a student for only $890. Unfortunately, Postdocs are not eligible. Both registration packages include; accommodation for the 09, 10, 11 February 2023 (on a shared basis for students) and a 24hour all-inclusive food and beverage package for the conference period. Once registered, please contact Amy Johnson to obtain a special registration link for your student. 

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

Ulrich auf dem Keller (Technical University of Denmark)
PROTEASE SIGNALING IN SKIN INFLAMMATION AND REPAIR
Xing Dai (University of California, Irvine)
EPITHELIAL PLASTICITY, METABOLISM, AND CELL-CELL COMMUNICATION IN SKIN WOUND HEALING - NEW APPROACHES TO AN OLD PROBLEM
Stijn De Langhe (Mayo Clinic, Rochester)
NICHE-MEDIATED REPAIR OF AIRWAYS IS DIRECTED IN AN OCCUPANT-DEPENDENT MANNER
Nikolaos Frangogiannis (Albert Einstein College of Medicine)
CARDIAC FIBROSIS: CELLULAR MECHANISMS AND THERAPEUTIC TARGETS
Boris Hinz (University of Toronto)
MYOFIBROBLASTS, MACROPHAGES, AND TGF-BETA
Jeffrey Hubbell (University of Chicago)
ENHANCING CYTOKINE FUNCTION THROUGH BINDING TO EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX
Luisa Iruela-Arispa (Northwestern University)
MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF ENDOTHELIAL CELL REGENERATION
Karen Lyons (UCLA)
BMP/TGFBETA CROSSTALK IN OSTEOARTHRITIS PROGRESSION
Lukas Sommer (University of Zurich)
THE ROLE OF PERIPHERAL GLIAL CELLS IN SKIN WOUND HEALING AND SKIN CANCER
Paul Martin (University of Bristol)
LIVE IMAGING INFLAMMATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES IN WOUND REPAIR AND CANCER
Helen McNeill (Washington University)
FAT CADHERINS IN GROWTH CONTROL AND REGENERATION
Mayssa Mokalled (Washington University)
PRO-REGENERATIVE GROWTH FACTORS DURING INNATE SPINAL CORD REPAIR
Pura Muñoz-Cánoves (Pompeu Fabra University)
IMPROVING REGENERATION OF AGED MUSCLES
Shruti Naik (NYU Langone Health)
EAVESDROPPING ON THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN IMMUNE AND EPITHELIAL CELLS IN TISSUE REPAIR
Maksim Plikus (University of California, Irvine)
SEEKING STEM CELL ACTIVATORS IN THE HAIR FOLLICLE MODEL
Yuval Rinkevich (Helmholtz Zentrum München)
MECHANISMS OF ECM TRANSFER
Robert Schwabe (Columbia University)
FIBROBLAST-EXPRESSED GROWTH FACTORS AND EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX DETERMINE THE BALANCE BETWEEN REGENERATION, INJURY AND CANCER DEVELOPMENT IN THE LIVER 
Maria Sibilia (Medical University Vienna)
MICROENVIRONMENTAL DRIVERS OF INFLAMMATION AND TUMORIGENESIS
Eileen Shore (University of Pennsylvania)
HETEROTOPIC OSSIFICATION – A DISORDER OF TISSUE REPAIR?
Lewis T. (Rusty) Williams (Walking Fish Therapeutics)
USING B CELLS TO DELIVER THERAPEUTIC PROTEINS TO SPECIFIC TISSUES
Joel Zindel (University of Bern)
PERITONEAL GATA6+ MACROPHAGES AND MESOTHELIUM-DERIVED FIBROBLASTS IN POST-SURGICAL WOUND HEALING AND ADHESION FORMATION

Target Audience

Growth factors control survival, proliferation, migration, metabolic functions and the gene expression program of all cells in the body. Upon injury, expression of many growth factors is upregulated, thereby stimulating proliferation and migration of cells at the site of injury. The correct interplay among different growth factors and their cross-talk with other injury-relevant signals is crucial for normal repair. While certain lower organisms have a strong regenerative capacity and can even regenerate complete amputated limbs, this capability is rudimentary in mammals where tissue injury most often results in scar formation with functional and aesthetical impairment. Therefore, there is a strong need to develop strategies to improve the repair/regeneration process. A detailed understanding of growth factor function in regenerating vs non-regenerating tissues and organisms will help to design such strategies. Based on this knowledge, the application of growth factors to injured tissues or activation of major growth factor signaling pathways has a strong potential to improve tissue regeneration. Such approaches require not only the design of suitable molecules, but also their appropriate delivery. All these aspects will be addressed at the Fusion Conference. The meeting is therefore of major interest for cell and developmental biologists, researchers and clinicians working in the area of tissue repair and regeneration, pharmacologists and bioengineers. We expect this meeting to attract people from academia, but also from various Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

Growth factor research as well as tissue repair research are well represented at different places in the world, with major hubs in Europe, in the US, and in China. However, researchers from other countries also join such conferences.

Educational Need

Research on Growth Factor signalling pathways in stem cell biology, as mediators of tissue injury, and as potential therapeutics in regenerative medicine is rapidly progressing. Because of the rapid progress in these clinically relevant areas, there is a critical need to bring together researchers from academia and from the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical industries, and clinicians, to share ideas and establish collaborations. There is an additional need to educate new researchers on the recent progress in understanding growth factors as mediators of disease and their use as therapeutics for regenerative medicine.