Once again the organizers of the Fraunhofer Life Science Symposium have highlighted an important peripherial issue in regenerative medicine. Rapid Prototyping is a relative wide field of engineering sciences. Only a small branch of rapid prototyping addresses technologies for regenerative medicine. During the 4th Fraunhofer Life Science Symposium together with our partners from the Fraunhofer Additive Manufacturing Alliance and the Central Germany Rapid Prototyping Network, ENFICOS we could bring together important material researchers, engineers and clinicians active in the field of rapid prototyping.

The symposium in the framework of the World Conference on Regenerative Medicine has shown that the field of rapid prototyping in regenerative medicine holds great growth potential. There is an increasing demand for scaffolds and adequate biocompatible materials which has grown in parallel with the rapid development of tissue engineering methods for the regeneration of tissues and organs. In four sessions sixteen lectures focused on both techniques and materials as well as on clinical applications of rapid prototyping encouraging a critical exchange between medical and engineering sciences.

The positive feedback from the third Fraunhofer Life Science Symposium which focused on the topic Tissue Regeneration in Veterinary Medicine was enormous. Based on this success a two-day meeting concerning Stem cell Therapies in Veterinary Medicine was held this year. We hope that many of the participants of the 4th Fraunhofer Life Science Symposium »Rapid Prototyping and Scaffolds« will join the next event in 2011 so that this promising topic will develop into a permanent part of the interdisciplinary spectrum of the World Conference on Regenerative Medicine.

In the name of the Fraunhofer Institute of Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI I am proud to announce the upcoming 5th Fraunhofer Life Science Symposium. From October 29 - 30, 2010 we are inviting you cordially to Leipzig – for the second time to the Fraunhofer IZI in Leipzig.

With kind regards,

Professor Dr. Frank Emmrich