The 27^th CDB Meeting entitled, “Body Surface Tactics: Cellular crosstalk for the generation of super-biointerfaces,” was held at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (CDB) on November 14 and 15, co-hosted by the Japan Skin Research Club and the RIKEN Symposium. Over 130 students and scientists from both academia and industry from Japan and overseas with an interest in some aspect of the skin, convened at the CDB to take part in the two-day meeting.

The skin is the largest organ of the body and plays many important physiological functions, such as protection, regulation of temperature, sensation and communication. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together researchers studying the body surface in different disciplines, from cell and developmental biology, regenerative biology, vascular and neurobiology, to immunology, evolution, mathematics and medicine. The talks and discussions covered a broad range of topics including epithelial formation, functional unit formation, maintenance and regeneration, evo-devo, new technologies, and dysfunction and therapeutics.

Keynote lectures were given by Yann Barrandon of EPFL in Switzerland and Singapore A-STAR, and Cheng-Ming Chuong of the University of Southern California, USA.

“This CDB meeting was unique in that there were many scientists from diverse backgrounds, many of whom may not normally have the opportunity to interact,” commented Hironobu Fujiwara, team leader of the Laboratory for Tissue Microenvironment and one of the meeting organizers. “We hope that this meeting serves as a starting point for new collaborations that will lead to new discoveries in understanding the body surface tactics to generate a highly versatile and variable ‘super-biointerface’ that allows organisms to adapt new environments during development, homeostasis and evolution.”