Conference scene. A bright future for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine in the Asia Pacific region

The Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society-Asia Pacific (TERMIS-AP) annual meeting was held in Sydney, Australia from 15-17 September 2010 and highlighted the latest developments in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine in the Asia-Pacific region. Several of the plenary lectures focused on the vascularization of tissue engineering constructs, an issue that is critical for the success of larger tissue engineered constructs and was central to the meeting overall. In addition, a wide range of research also presented developments in tissue engineering for a range of body tissues (including cardiac, neural, bone, cartilage, tendon, skeletal muscle and skin), as well as advances in technologies (high-throughput screening and microfluidics). Looking more broadly, the meeting incorporated developments covering the spectrum of fundamental research through to clinical studies, with discussions on how best to direct the scientific advances being made into realistic therapies that could be made widely available in the future. Overall, the meeting highlighted the promise of early strategies, which are now showing promising results in clinical trials, and the development of a strong foundation of research from which future therapies will no doubt be developed.