The 2007 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Tissue Repair and Regeneration will be held at Colby-Sawyer Academy, in New London, New Hampshire, June 17-22. This conference follows six previous successful Gordon Conferences on this topic. After injury to adult tissues, a programmed series of biological events takes place that ideally would reconstitute the damaged part of the body. However, repair in postnatal mammals generally leads to scar formation, and in chronic phase, often to an impairment of tissue function. Most importantly, several disease conditions, such as ulceration, fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, colitis, and many others are associated with severe healing abnormalities, demonstrating the strong need to understand and modulate these processes. Therefore, it is of major importance to elucidate the mechanisms underlying normal and impaired tissue repair.

Besides the important clinical aspect, the tissue repair process is widely accepted as a diverse and relevant model system for the study of numerous and distinct cellular processes, including analysis of growth factor function, regulation of matrix deposition and degradation, cell migration, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and control of cellular homeostasis. Therefore, this field, and this meeting in particular, has attracted a series of internationally highly recognized basic scientists who work on these various topics. The number of high-quality basic science publications related to this field has dramatically increased over recent years. Furthermore, a number of commercial ventures have been initiated aiming at the development of novel wound healing therapeutics, utilizing recently obtained new knowledge in wound healing biology, as well as new approaches for therapeutic intervention in chronic scarring diseases. A key goal of this meeting is to shed new light onto the mechanisms underlying tissue repair processes and to highlight the commonality of repair processes among tissues and across species. Although this meeting will focus on the basic science of tissue repair and regeneration, it has been very successful at attracting clinicians and investigators from industry. Discussions among these different groups helps to translate and transfer the new basic science findings in tissue repair biology into novel medicines for improving wound healing/tissue repair in the clinic. Moreover, new understanding of the cells and mechanisms involved in tissue regeneration bring us closer to appropriate therapies to replace or regenerate damaged or defective tissue.

Prior to 2001, the topic was focused on "Wound Repair" and this was changed in 2001 to "Tissue Repair and Regeneration" by consensus vote to reflect the attendees' broader interests of repair in different tissues and organs, and because of the obvious parallels between repair and embryonic development and interests in model systems that could perfectly regenerate tissues and organs. As in prior meetings, a unifying goal of the meeting in 2007 will be to highlight the commonality of repair processes among various tissues and the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms that lead to repair and regeneration, such as angiogenesis, growth factors and cell differentiation. Furthermore, links between repair, regeneration, development, and specific diseases will be addressed. Traditional "wound healing" topics such as connective tissue fibrosis will remain but we will also draw in some of the newer cell biology and genetic approaches in simple model organisms and the concept of stem cells and bioengineering in regeneration and repair.

We have planned nine sessions which include (1) Models of tissue repair, (2) Cell migration and wound closure, (3) Angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis and neurogenesis, (4) Inflammation/stress and molecular triggers, (5) Regeneration, (6) Growth factors in repair, (7) Scarring and regeneration, (8) Stem cells and regeneration/repair, and (9) Bioengineering. The sessions will include presentations on fundamental aspects of repair in skin, lung, liver, eye, bone, and connective tissue. Besides the presentations of the invited speakers, shorter presentations will be given by other participants, chosen by the Organizing Committee. The meeting will also include four poster sessions.