Translating Mechanobiology to the Clinic: a panel discussion from the 2018 CMBE Conference

The 2018 BMES Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Conference was organized around the theme of Discovering the Keys: Transformative and Translational Mechanobiology. The conference programing included a panel discussion on Translating Mechanobiology to the Clinic. The goal of the panel was to initiate a dialog and share pearls of wisdom from participants' successes and failures in academia and in industry toward translating scientific discoveries in the field of mechanobiology to technology products in the market or toward devices or drugs that impact clinical care. This commentary reviews the major themes and questions discussed during the panel, including defining translational research and how it applies to mechanobiology, the current landscape in translational mechanobiology, the process for translating mechanobiology research, challenges in translating mechanobiology research, and unique opportunities in translating mechanobiology research.