The Promises and Challenges of Regenerative Medicine, October 20–22 2004, Kobe, Japan

This report provides a brief summary of information presented at a workshop on regenerative medicine held in Kobe, Japan, on October 20–22, 2004. A major focus of the workshop was the identification and characterization of adult and embryonic stem cells, including approaches to manipulate these—in terms both of maintaining stemness and of driving differentiation toward a desired phenotype—and current developments toward their therapeutic use in regenerative medicine.