Deregulation of normal tissue repair has dramatic consequences for life quality and survival of patients. Together, insufficient healing (chronic wounds) and excessive repair after injury (scarring/fibrosis) cause healthcare costs reaching tens of billions of dollars per year in the US alone. Chronic and fibrotic healing occur when the body's own repair capacity is either impaired or overwhelmed. One approach in regenerative medicine is to replace injured, diseased or aged tissues with functional tissue equivalents. This approach is challenged by adverse host reactions that are part of the body repair program, e.g., immune, inflammatory, and fibrotic responses. Thus, regenerative medicine increasingly considers to support the adult's body's own regenerative capacities to promote closure of wounds that never heal and to keep excessive repair at bay. However, it is still unclear why humans lost regenerative capacity during evolution, whereas lower organisms can regenerate whole organs.

Understanding the underlying common control mechanisms will help to devise novel strategies to regenerate rather than repair organ injuries to extend the healthy life expectancy of our aging population. The Gordon Research Conference on Tissue Repair and Regeneration (GRC-TRR) is the only major recurrent meeting focusing on the broad topic of regenerative medicine, from the basic mechanisms of tissue repair and regeneration, to their clinical applications. The overarching aim of the 2017 edition of the GRC-TRR will be to assemble the greatest minds in regenerative biology under one roof to discuss the latest findings in the field. We have planned nine scientific sessions focusing on several topics relevant to regenerative medicine and healing of injured tissues. It is anticipated that exposure to this very diverse group of scientists will foster stimulating discussions and lead to productive collaborations, which will facilitate the development of the next generation of novel therapeutics in regenerative medicine to tackle many of the greatest health concerns and needs of the 21st century.