Dear Colleagues - Dear Students - Dear Friends

Tissue injury induces a complex and dynamic cellular repair program to restore normal tissue architecture and function. These repair mechanisms often require an intricate interplay between resident tissue stem cells, recruitment of inflammatory cells and the extracellular environment and are believed to recapitulate fundamental aspects of embryonic development, organ regeneration and pathophysiology (tumorigenesis, metastasis, fibrosis) by activating similar molecular and cellular pathways. Thus, tissue repair and wound healing are crucial processes at the interface of normal tissue regeneration and development of a variety of different diseases.

Clearly, understanding the fundamental mechanisms by which these developmental programs are reactivated and maintained in adult tissues is of particular importance for the treatment of chronic injury. For example organ fibrosis - a combination of inadequate numbers of functioning cells and a scarred fibrotic matrix - is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality due to diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, liver cirrhosis, renal fibrosis, scleroderma and myelofibrosis. The demographic changes of an aging population and the obesity epidemic are further increasing the number of patients affected by fibrosis, and have raised its profile among patients, clinicians and industry.

The further development of this field of research will undoubtedly lead to the improvement of therapeutic strategies and enhancement of the survival of patients suffering from regenerative diseases.

We are delighted to invite you and the members of your institution to the 33^rd Ernst Klenk Symposium 2017 on "Tissue regeneration, wound healing and fibrosis: Translating basic concepts into regenerative therapy." taking place on Oct. 15 - 17, 2017 at the Medical Campus in Cologne and organized by the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC). The Klenk Symposium will bring together an outstanding and diverse group of scientists at the forefront of repair and regeneration research who will share and discuss the latest advances in the following sessions:

• Session I: Exploring molecular concepts of cell renewal and stem cell function in tissue maintenance and repair
  Hellmut Augustin - Heidelberg, DE – Matthias P Lutolf - Lausanne, CH – Ian G Macara - Nashville, US – Paul Martin - Bristol, UK – Phillip A Newmark - Madison, US – Renato Paro - Zurich, CH
  
  
• Session II: Mechanisms of cellular communication in tissue regeneration, repair and fibrosis

  Gian-Paolo Dotto - Lausanne, CH – Joachim P Spatz - Heidelberg, DE – Michael T Longaker - Stanford, US – Pura Munoz-Canoves - Barcelona, ES – David M Ornitz - St. Louis, US – Raffaella Sordella - Cold Spring Harbor, US
  
  
• Session III: New strategies of targeting the immune response in tissue remodeling

  Matias Avila - Pamplona, ES – Mathias Heikenwälder - München , DE – Paul Kubes - Calgary, CA – Edward J Pearce - Freiburg, DE - Nadia A Rosenthal - Bar Harbor, US – Thomas A Wynn - Bethesda, US
  
  
• Session IV: Challenges and perspectives for translating scientific discoveries in regenerative medicine
  Jeroen Bakkers - Utrecht, NL – Jacob E Corn - Berkely, US (pending) – Robert S Kirsner - Miami, US – Jeffrey W Pollard- Edinburgh, UK – Dennis Roop - Denver, US – Robert Sackstein - Boston, US

We are honored to announce that Prof. Dr. Sabine Werner (ETH Zurich - Zurich, CH) has accepted our invitation to be the honorary guest speaker of the Ernst Klenk Lecture (Oct. 16, 2017 at 6 p.m.) and to act as scientific coordinator.

The annual Klenk Symposium is a special biomedical science meeting at the University of Cologne that attracts national and international scientists, physicians and particularly students. The meeting is named in honor of Prof. Ernst Klenk - an outstanding German lipid-biochemist, who headed the Institute for Physiological Chemistry at the Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, from 1936 to 1965.

Since its foundation the participation in the meeting is free of charge. Due to organizational reasons, free online registration is required: Klenk 2017 registration

Thus, we are thankful for the support provided by German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG)and the following industrial companies: Novartis, Bio-Rad, Takara Bio, La Roche-Posay, Acris Antibodies - OriGene Europe, New England BioLabs, Proteintech Europe, Miltenyi Biotec, Phenion - A Henkel Brand, LMS Consult, Analytik Jena, Macherey-Nagel, Merck, PeproTech, PerkinElmer, Eppendorf, Systec.

We are expecting a highly interactive meeting sparked by the panel of internationally renown speakers, who will discuss their latest research developments with an audience of scientists and physicians.

We are looking forward to welcoming you and members of your institution.

Sincerely yours

Prof. Dr. Sabine Eming - PD Dr. Catherin Niemann - Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Krieg
Chairs - Cologne Klenk Symposium Committee 2017