The spectrum of tissue repair is as broad as life itself. In this millennium it ranges from traditional or alternative therapies, which may enhance healing, to 'regenerative medicine'. Recently I attended the Third Annual Conference on Regenerative Medicine held in Washington DC and was impressed by the new scientific advances that are being made in this field, as well as reports of early phase-one clinical studies (www.genengnews.com). As with many of the new advances in tissue repair that are reported almost daily through the media, with regard to stem cells, tissue engineering and cloning - the ethical questions that arise from this work were also presented and debated at the start of this meeting. Dr Philip Collas from the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Oslo, Norway presented work that his laboratory is doing on transdifferentiation of one somatic cell type into a different somatic cell type for potential therapeutic purposes. In this issue of the Bulletin he has written an article describing his group's work.

The successful relationship that can exist between academia and industry is highlighted in the article on Renovo Ltd. by our President, Professor Mark Fer-guson. This relationship continues to grow in Europe as well as the rest of the world and can only lead to improved therapies for treating patients with impaired healing or overhealing wounds (scars).

Professor Keith Harding's summary of the strategic review of the ETRS, which he undertook earlier this year, gives a succinct report of the direction in which the Society will be going after being in existence for fifteen years.

In our section 'Concepts in Clinical Wound Healing' Dr Alan Lansdown reviews the role of silver in treating wounds, which at this particular time is a very topical subject, especially with regard to preparation of the wound bed.

Smith & Nephew, one of our longstanding corporate sponsors of the ETRS Bulletin, have provided us with an update on the company, particularly with their role in tissue engineering.

Keep in mind the deadline for Abstracts for the Annual Meeting to be held in Amsterdam (21-23 September 2003) which is 1 April 2003. On line registration and other information concerning the congress is available on:

www.congrex.nl/etrs2003

Telephone: +31 251 275500 - Contact: Danielle Zwager

We anticipate that this will be one of the best meetings we have had and look forward to all our members attending.

George W. Cherry
Editor