WHS General Session: Talking About Wounds: Communication Pathways Within A Complex Process

The process of wound healing is enormously complex, as it involves numerous cell types, mediators, and extracellular matrix molecules. Thousands of molecules are produced in response to injury, and many hundreds of these have been shown to play a functional role in tissue repair. The complexity of healing creates many questions about how cells communicate in the wound and about how genes are regulated following injury. Advances in technology and computational approaches now allow the identification of unique wound communication pathways and gene networks. These discoveries may lead to improved strategies to guide tissue regeneration.