It is now evident that skeletal tissues are highly responsive to the physical demands of their environment and respond to changes in physical requirements by altering the synthesis and organization of the extra cellular matrix. This process involves recognition of physical signals, signal transduction, and regulation of gene expression for both structural and signaling proteins. These observations have major implications for, (a.) general considerations of how epigenetic physical factors influence gene expression, (b.) how physical environmental demands result in the clinical observations of atrophy and hypertrophy and, (c.) how manipulation of the physical environment can be utilized therapeutically to stimulate repair. The workshop will explore biophysical agents and related technologies for their relevance to the repair of cartilage and bone. This information will be approached from clinical, physiological, and cellular perspectives with an emphasis on comparisons of mechanisms of action. The format is designed to be both interdisciplinary and highly participatory, fostering exchanges of information and resulting in a consensus on the state of the art and future research directions. The format will present an integrated approach to physical regulation and, for the first time, directly make mechanistic comparisons among a number of physical modalities. The workshop will consider how cells perceive their physical environment, how information about the environment is carried to cells in the form of signal content, how cells transduce this information and how physical stimuli alter gene expression. Emphasis will be placed upon the up-regulation of growth factor synthesis by physical agents as a possible intermediary mechanism of action. Finally, how repairing skeletal tissues organize physical information to augment the repair process, and what translational opportunities exist, will be considered.
