The Workshop was established in 1990 to focus on basic science research related to the pathogenesis of scleroderma, including such areas as genetics/immunogenetics, epigenomics and gene regulation, vascular cell biology, innate and adaptive immune cell function and activation, matrix biology, stem cells, platform technologies and ‘Omics’ and animal transgenic models of disease models of disease. Investigators in these areas, as well as in basic cellular and molecular biology, have been invited to promote scientific exchange and collaboration within these disciplines. The Workshop brings together basic, translational and clinical investigators in scleroderma and world leaders in related scientific fields, promoting scientific exchange, providing a venue for advancing science in established and emerging fields related to scleroderma and reviewing recent clinical trials and methodology; the goal, to created strong bridges from bench to bedside.