Building and rebuilding complex tissues: strategic visions from a research-led workshop

How complex tissues develop and regenerate post-injury is one of the most fascinating and important processes in biology. Recent technical advances that enable the generation of a quantitative understanding of these processes have the potential to transform the field. However, to achieve this, concerted and long-term studies are required at the community level to compare regeneration and wound healing in both regenerative and non-regenerative contexts and organisms. To stimulate such collaboration, we recently organised a focused workshop around this topic to identify key outstanding questions that focus on cross-comparisons of regenerative competence, and the cellular, molecular and physical drivers of regeneration. Importantly, the discussions also highlighted significant logistical and financial challenges in initiating and sustaining large-scale, long-term interdisciplinary studies, particularly those involving non-model organisms.