Rebuilding the injured lung

The 57th annual Thomas L. Petty Aspen Lung Conference, entitled "Rebuilding the Injured Lung," was held from June 4 to 7, 2014 at the Gant Conference Center in Aspen, Colorado. Investigators from a wide range of disciplines and perspectives convened to discuss the biology of lung injury, how the lung repairs itself, how and why repair fails, and how the repair process can be enhanced. Among the challenges identified in the course of the conference was how to develop more predictive experimental models that capture the multidimensional complexity of lung injury and repair in a tractable manner. From such approaches that successfully fuse the biological and physical sciences, the group envisioned that new therapies for acute and chronic lung injury would emerge. The discussion of experimental therapeutics ranged from pharmaceuticals and cells that interdict fibrosis and enhance repair to a de novo lung derived from stem cells repopulating a decellularized matrix.