During the past decade, significant progress in molecular and cellular te- niques has greatly advanced our understanding of the wound healing p- cess. Many of these new techniques have been utilized in the context of more classic models of wound healing. The combination of new and classic approaches has allowed scientists to make exciting discoveries in the field of tissue repair, resulting in an explosion of information about the healing p- cess. Importantly, these new findings have great relevance beyond wound healing itself. The injury repair process cuts across many disciplines, exte- ing to such broad fields as cancer, inflammation, and atherosclerosis. The relevance of the field to these many disciplines has generated great interest in models and methods for the study of wound healing. The goal of Wound Healing: Methods and Protocols is to provide scientists from many dis- plines with a compendium of classic and contemporary protocols from r- ognized experts in the field of wound healing. We hope this volume will be useful not only to those working within the field itself, but also to scientists from other disciplines who wish to adapt wound healing models to their own experimental needs. The process of wound healing encompasses many different biologic p- cesses, including epithelial growth and differentiation, fibrous tissue prod- tion and function, angiogenesis, and inflammation.
