The role of short synthetic adhesion peptides in regenerative medicine; the debate.

This paper constitutes the judgment on the four-paper debate in the same issue of this journal on the motion that ''the use of short synthetic adhesion peptides, like RGD, is the best approach in the design of biomaterials that guide cell behavior for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering". It is concluded that this motion is carried on the basis that the concept of installing multifunctionality and modularity in peptides is the more powerful concept, coupled with the potential attractiveness of retaining a chemically defined product, without any possibilities of disease transmission, and relative inexpensiveness and clearer regulatory pathways.