Synopsis

The 5th 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 and their downstream signalling molecules as mediators of tissue and organ repair and their modulation to promote regeneration. Because of the remarkable parallels between (i) tissue repair and development and (ii) tissue repair and cancer, the conference will also be of great interest to developmental biologists and cancer researchers. It will provide a unique opportunity for academic and industrial researchers and clinicians to meet each other in a stimulating environment and to discuss ongoing and novel collaborations and interdisciplinary research projects.

Key Sessions

• Growth factor functions in development and parallels to repair
• Growth factor functions in cancer and parallels to repair
• Cross-talk between growth factor and extracellular matrix signals
• Stromal-immune cell cross-talk in tissue repair and regeneration
• Growth factors in stem cell function
• Novel growth factor- based strategies to promote regeneration
• Growth factors in lung development, repair, and regeneration (joint session with 3rd Niche-epithelial Stem Cell Interactions in Lung Health and Disease Conference. More details coming soon)

Joint Session & Multi Conference Discount

Join us on 17 February for our "Growth factors in lung development, repair, and regeneration" session, in partnership with the 3rd Niche-epithelial Stem Cell Interactions in Lung Health and Disease Conference which proceeds this meeting from 17 - 20 February 2025. Receive a 10% discount when you book onto both conferences. Email amy@fusion-conferences.com to receive your discount code. T&C's apply.

Confirmed Invited Speakers

Denise Al Alam (The Lundquist Institute)   
Saverio Bellusci (Justus-Liebig-Universitaet Giessen, ECCPS)
REGULATION OF LIPOFIBROBLAST TO MYOFIBROBLAST REVERSIBLE SWITCH IN FIBROSIS FORMATION AND RESOLUTION
Ken Dower (Pfzier)
MYELOID-STROMAL INTERACTIONS IN FIBROGENESIS AND RESOLUTION: A PHARMA PERSPECTIVE
Stuart Forbes (The University of Edinburgh)
MACROPHAGE THERAPY FOR LIVER DISEASE
David Granville (University of British Columbia)
BEYOND THE GRAVE – EMERGING NON-CYTOTOXIC ROLES FOR GRANZYME SERINE PROTEASES IN HEALTH AND DISEASE
Farshid Guilak (Washington University in St. Louis)
SYNTHETIC GENE CIRCUITS FOR AUTONOMOUS CELL-BASED DRUG DELIVERY: IT’S ABOUT TIME!
Chrissy Hammond (University of Bristol)
Boris Hinz (St. Michael Hospital and University of Toronto)
MECHANICAL ENVIRONMENT PRIMES MESENCHYMAL STROMAL CELLS TO PRODUCE PRO-INFLAMMATORY SECRETOMES
Luisa Iruela-Arispe (Northwestern University)
Sachiko Iseki (Tokyo Medical and Dental University)
VERSATILE FUNCTION OF FGF18 IN DEVELOPMENT AND REGENERATION
Aaron Johnson (Washington University School of Medicine)
Megan Killian (University of Michigan)
Michael Longaker (Stanford University School of Medicine)
PREVENTION AND RESCUE OF SCARRING DURING WOUND REPAIR
Amy Merrill  (University of Southern California)
Paul Martin (University of Bristol)
Mikael Martino (Monash University)
PROMOTING TISSUE HEALING VIA GROWTH FACTORS AND IMMUNOMODULATION 
Moosa Mohammadi (Wenzhou Medical University)
Maria Sibilia (Medical University of Vienna, Institute of Cancer Research)
HARNESSING INNATE IMMUNITY TO PREVENT AND TREAT METASTASES
Tanya Shaw (King's College London)
Lukas Sommer (University of Zurich)
PERIPHERAL GLIA FORM A REGENERATIVE NICHE IN SKIN WOUND HEALING
Daniel Tschumperlin (Mayo Clinic)
Erwin Wagner (Medical University of Vienna)
SKIN INFLAMMATION AND CANCER
Max Yun (TU Dresden)
MOLECULAR DRIVERS OF DE NOVO THYMUS REGENERATION IN THE AXOLOTL
Jin-San Zhang (Wenzhou Medical University)

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 increases, which activates reparative cells through increased proliferation and migration at the site of injury and production of repair-promoting molecules. The coordinated interplay among different growth factors and their cross-talk with other injury-relevant signals is essential for normal repair. While certain lower organisms have a strong regenerative capacity and can even regenerate amputated body parts, 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 will therefore be of major interest to cell and developmental biologists, researchers and clinicians working in the area of tissue repair and regeneration, pharmacologists, and bioengineers as well as cancer researchers. 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, the US, and China. However, researchers from many other countries will also benefit from this conference.

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. Therefore, 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 to promote these clinically highly relevant topics. 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.  

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