Third Annual Symposium on Regenerative Rehabilitation

The overall scientific advance that resulted from this meeting was the progress in the application of “regenerative medicine” approaches, namely stem cell therapeutics, to many problem of rehabilitative medicine. As proposed, the presentations focused on the enhanced functional outcomes as a shared goal of and rehabilitative regenerative therapies. The progress in this area was represented by the oral and poster presentations, as well as the discussions associated with each, that addressed the fundamental challenges of each field individually and the convergence of the two. For example, several studies presented the state of the field in terms of the study of mechanotransduction (the conversion of a mechanical stimulus to chemical activity) to dictate molecular, cellular and tissue responses. This symposium, the only one of its kind, witnessed the crossing of disciplinary boundaries to create a unique forum where stakeholders in the field of regenerative medicine were able with interact with rehabilitation clinicians and scientists to discuss the current and outline the future landscape of the field.