November 10-13, 2013, the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology will be hosting the Tissue Engineering Regenerative Medicine International Society Americas’ (TERMIS-AM) conference in downtown Atlanta.  The TERMIS-AM conference brings together the multidisciplinary community engaged or interested in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

The theme of this year’s meeting, “Celebrating 25 years of Transformative Science & Engineering,” was inspired by the first federally funded tissue engineering workshop in 1988.  An opening plenary session will provide talks from several leaders on how key areas of the field have evolved over the past 25 years, as well as insight on future directions of the field.

“We are very proud to host the TERMIS-AM 2013 meeting and welcome our international guests to Atlanta,” stated conference chair, Bob Guldberg. “Although it has been over a year in the making, the success of this year’s meeting will reflect the efforts of past chairs, advisory committees, trainees and attendees, to build a healthy and vibrant society.”

Georgia Tech will be celebrating two national awards at the conference as well.  Robert M. Nerem, will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award and graduate student, Melissa Kinney, will receive a 2013 Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) Young Investigator award.

“We are very excited about this year’s scientific program comprised of session topics that focus on the fundamental principles, emerging strategies, and practical applications of the latest advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine,” program chair, Todd McDevitt said. “In addition to emphasizing basic and applied scientific research themes that broadly impact different tissue and organ systems, we have also included a series of sessions dedicated to clinical translational work.”

The conference will open with a special symposium, “Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine: Origins and its Evolution,” which will feature past, present and future leaders. The attendees will also hear from distinguished keynote lecturers speaking about innovative approaches that impact new tissue engineering and regenerative medicine strategies, including Deepak Srivastava, MD, director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and Director of the Roddenberry Stem Cell Center at Gladstone; Valerie M. Weaver, PhD, associate professor, Departments of Surgery and Bioengineering and Therapeutics, and Director, Center for Bioengineering and Tissue Regeneration, University of California, San Francisco; and James M. Wells, PhD, endowed chair in Regenerative Medicine and Perinatal Endocrinology and Director, Pluripotent Stem Cell Facility, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

In addition, nontraditional activities surrounding the scientific sessions, several of which are new to this conference, will include the Women in Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine luncheon, a session focused on public policy, expanded translational tracks and a student high school outreach event.