Regenerative medicine is a prime example of the interdisciplinary trend in contemporary biomedical research, incorporating developmental and stem cell biology, biomaterials and tissue engineering, gene and cell therapeutic approaches. The science underpinning recent advances in tissue repair has already provided significant clinical outcomes in many organ systems, yet the challenges facing regeneration of the cardiovascular system are particularly complex. The mature mammalian heart is particularly refractory to recovery after insult, mysteriously losing the robust cardiac regenerative capacity of the embryo, which is retained by other species into adulthood. This conference will cover recent discoveries in cardiac developmental biology, compare cardiac systems across the evolutionary spectrum, and explore the fundamental barriers to cardiac self-renewal in the clinical context. International specialists will share their latest work in this challenging field, focusing on the interface of basic and translational research.