New Frontiers In Tendon Research

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Tendon diseases, including tendinopathy and tendon rupture, are common and disabling musculoskeletal conditions. Despite the prevalence of tendon injuries, therapeutic measures for effective intervention and prevention have progressed with limited success because of the paucity of data describing the basic mechanisms that underlie effective tendon function and response to injuries. It is becoming more apparent that there is a need for an increase in tendon research. The slower progress of the tendon field relative to that of other musculoskeletal tissues, such as bone and cartilage, may be in part attributable to the relatively young age of the tendon field with a small number of investigators engaged in fundamental mechanistic research. Providing a dedicated forum for increasing collaborations and communications within the community of investigators in the tendon field will create synergies allowing high impact research greater than that achievable by individual investigators. In addition, it is integral for an emerging field to build on progress and incorporae expertise from other related fields. Building on and leveraging strengths of experts from outside the tendon field will allow tendon researchers to expand their own research resulting in growth of the tendon field. Furthermore, this cross-fertilization approach may serve to attract young investigators and trainees from other fields into tendon research. We propose to organize a meeting that creates an environment that is conducive for initiating novel collaborations within the tendon field and with experts from beyond the tendon field. As such, the proposed meeting will have a novel format that is particularly targeted to promote collaborations between junior and established investigators within the field and with experts from beyond the tendon field. Experts from within and outside the tendon field have been chosen to lead discussions in breakout sessions on six essential topics. The guided discussion that results from the collaborative effort between the session leaders will ensure a wide perspective. To encourage active discussion at the meeting, each topic will be discussed multiple times with different participants during 'breakout' sessions. The momentum gained from the meeting and its impact will be continued beyond the time of the meeting, through continued interactions and publication of manuscripts on each topic. Each manuscript will reflect the broad views expressed and highlight what is known and what remains unknown for each topic. We expect that novel and highly effective collaborations will ensue from this meeting format, promoting the desired advancement in the field of tendon research.