Tissue Engineering for Pediatric Applications

描述（由申请人提供）：本次会议拨款申请将支持于2011年12月11日在德克萨斯州休斯顿举行的组织工程和再生医学国际学会北美年会（TERMIS-NA）之前举行的“儿科应用组织工程”会前研讨会。目标受众是生物医学科学家、生物工程师和临床医生。组织工程领域的许多研究者引用先天性缺陷和儿童再生医学的其他需求（以及其他原因）作为他们研究的令人信服的理由。然而，在组织工程领域发表的研究中，儿科应用实际上只占很小的一部分。本次研讨会的任务是(i)引起对产前、新生儿和儿科患者的特定组织工程和再生医学需求的关注；（ii）阐明儿科患者的需求与成人患者的需求有何不同；（iii）告知临床医生（儿科或其他）本研究，特别是那些可能不参加TERMIS-NA会议的临床医生；（iv）加强儿科临床医生和组织工程研究人员之间的合作和讨论；(5)提供一个平台，以突出青年研究者在儿童组织工程和再生医学领域的研究。为了完成这一任务，我们将以一整天的主题演讲和口头报告为特色，描述儿童组织工程应用的研究调查，包括但不限于心血管、骨科、颅面、胃肠和泌尿外科。我们将邀请来自临床和基础研究机构的不同学术级别的演讲者。所有的演讲者都参与了儿科临床实践和/或涉及儿科应用组织工程的研究。临床医生、生物医学科学家和生物工程师将能够通过技术演示后举行的小组讨论和许多非正式参与的机会进行互动和讨论未来的方向。在主要的TERMIS-NA会议上，还将有一个专门针对儿科应用的海报环节，并将颁发最佳见习海报奖。妇女和少数民族在受邀演讲者名单中有代表，并担任会议组织委员会成员。此外，我们将鼓励女性、少数族裔或残疾人士的学员和教师参加研讨会，并申请注册折扣。尽管我们也将针对更广泛的受众（本地和全国），但相当一部分与会者将是参加年度TERMIS-NA会议的人员。为了促进临床医生的出席，我们将在周末举行研讨会。有关工作坊的宣传将包括儿童保育资源的资料。休斯顿的场地，以及德克萨斯儿童医院作为主要机构赞助商的参与，将为拟议的研讨会提供一个非常强大的科学环境，并促进对儿科组织工程的深度、现状和未来挑战的评估。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Conference Grant application will support a Pre-Conference Workshop on "Tissue Engineering for Pediatric Applications," to be held on December 11, 2011, in advance of the Annual Meeting of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society - North America (TERMIS-NA) in Houston, TX. The target audience is biomedical scientists, bioengineers, and clinicians. Many investigators in the field of tissue engineering cite congenital defects and other needs for regenerative medicine in children (among other reasons) as compelling justification for their research. However, pediatric applications actually represent a surprisingly small fraction of research presented and published in the tissue engineering field. The mission of this workshop is (i) to draw attention to the specific tissue engineering and regenerative medicine needs of prenatal, neonatal, and pediatric patients; (ii) to clarify how needs for pediatric patients differ from the needs of adult patients; (iii) to inform clinicians (pediatric or otherwise) about this research, especially those who might not otherwise attend the TERMIS-NA conference; (iv) to enhance collaboration and initiate discussions between pediatric clinicians and tissue engineering researchers; and (v) to provide a platform to highlight the research of young investigators in the field of pediatric tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. To accomplish this mission, we will feature a full day of keynote lectures and oral presentations describing research investigations on pediatric tissue engineering applications including but not limited to cardiovascular, orthopedic, craniofacial, gastrointestinal, and urological. We will feature a program of invited speakers at various academic ranks from clinical and basic research institutions. All of the speakers are involved in pediatric clinical practice and/or research involving tissue engineering for pediatric applications. Clinicians, biomedical scientists, and bioengineers will be able to interact and discuss future directions through panels held after the technical presentations and numerous opportunities for informal engagement. There will also be a section of the poster session of the main TERMIS-NA conference dedicated to pediatric applications, and awards for best trainee posters will be given. Women and minorities are represented in the list of invited speakers and serve on the conference organizing committee. In addition, we will encourage trainees and faculty who are women, under-represented minorities, or persons with disabilities to attend the workshop and apply for registration discounts. A significant portion of the attendees will be persons also attending the annual TERMIS-NA conference, although we will also target a broader audience (locally and nationally). To promote attendance by clinicians, we will hold the workshop on the weekend. Publicity about the workshop will include information about child care resources. The Houston locale, and the involvement of Texas Children's Hospital as the primary institutional sponsor, will provide a very strong scientific environment for the proposed workshop and facilitate evaluation of the depth, current status, and future challenges in pediatric tissue engineering. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: New technologies with the ability to engineer implantable living tissues or encourage the regeneration of tissues and organs hold great promise for the treatment and cure of a variety of birth defects and other childhood afflictions. However, a surprisingly small fraction of tissue engineering research focuses on the needs of pediatric patients when compared to adult therapies. This proposed workshop aims to bring together engineers, scientists and clinicians involved in tissue engineering research and in treating pediatric patients with tissue engineering needs in order to motivate research in these areas and enhance collaboration.