Fibrosis: From Bench to Bedside (C4)

Fibrosis of all the internal organs is increasingly recognized as a deleterious and ominous consequence of, normal aging, repetitive subclinical tissue injury or severe persistent tissue injury. Fibrosis is increasingly seen as the next broad ranging target for therapeutics after Cancer, and there is now a rush to first-in-class therapeutics. The primary cell that lays down fibrotic tissue is the myofibroblast. The biology of myofibroblasts is relatively undeveloped due a lack of definitive markers, and lack of clear ontogeny, until very recently. This new meeting will: a) bring together Biotech, Pharma and Academia in a seamless meeting. b) It will focus on fibrosis as an abnormal wound healing or tissue repair response identifying aberrant developmental pathways, and progenitor cell responses. c) It will have a broad focus on basic biology of myofibroblasts, their progenitors, progenitor ontogeny, and their interaction with the immune system in disease. d) There will be focus on fibrosis as a normal part of aging and the epigenetics involved in maintaining myofibroblasts in an activated state. e) Among the major blocks to progress is the lack of biomarkers for which will be a full session. f) Finally there will be formal presentations from Biotech/Pharma on the most promising new therapeutics in development or clinical trial. All of these highlighted areas are underdeveloped and are rapidly changing, we aim to make the Keystone Fibrosis meeting the Premier International Meeting for anyone with an interest in this disease process. We will aim to bring together academics from a broad range of interest areas, including cancer, vascular biology, stem cell biology, tissue regeneration as well as those with organ specific interests.