If you book this event you will get 50% off the EARLY
REGISTRATION FEE for registration to the partner event - Induced
pluripotent stem cells: production and utility in regenerative medicine which
will take place on the22nd October 2009. To find out more about this meeting go
to www.regonline.co.uk/IPS09. On
registration for this meeting you will receive an email giving you details of
how to receive your discount to the October event.
This meeting will have CPD accreditation
Human stem cells offer a source of renewable tissue that can be used for basic
research, drug discovery, and cell replacement therapies. The use of such
tissues is likely to impact on the research into pharmaceuticals in the short
to medium whilst therapeutic applications are more longer term ventures. This
symposium looks at some of the enabling technology currently under development
that involves improving the manner by which stem cells are grown,
differentiated and used for particular research applications. The symposium
will be of interest to academics and industrialists with interests in stem cell
biology and its in vitro applications
Meeting
Chair: Dr Stefan Przyborski, University of
Durham, UK
Talks include:
Directing
dopaminergic neuron differentiation from embryonic stem cells
Dr Li Meng, MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, London,
UK
Stem cell-mediated
approaches to skeletal repair
Professor Cosimo De
Bari, University of Aberdeen, UK
We have identified
and characterized mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from the adult human synovial
membrane and periosteum, capable of differentiation at the single cell level to
cartilage, bone, adipocytes, and skeletal muscle. MSC preparations
display distinctive biological properties, which appear to be mainly related to
the tissue of origin of MSCs. Thus, potency assays and related surrogate
measures of MSC preparations are being developed and validated as quality
controls for clinical applications. We are currently investigating
the stem cell niche(s) within the joint and their role(s) in joint homeostasis,
remodelling and repair in vivo. This knowledge will be instrumental for the
development of novel therapies by targeting stem cell niches
Stem cells in
normal and malignant haematology
Dr Jo Mountford, University of Glasgow, UK
Confirmed Speakers
include:
- Dr Gillian Farnie, University of Manchester, UK
About the Meeting
Chair
Dr Stefan
Przyborski, School of Biological and Biomedical Science, Durham University, UK -As
part of his postdoctoral training, Dr Przyborski worked at the Jackson
Laboratory (USA) and in Professor Andrews laboratory ( University of Sheffield
) where he developed his interest in stem cell biology and developmental
neuroscience. He subsequently established an independent research programme at
Durham University where he developed technology to produce populations of
neural derivatives from human stem cells. These systems are currently being
used to investigate the mechanisms of how cells commit toward the neural
lineage and how to specify the formation of certain neural subtypes during cell
differentiation. A significant amount of effort has been devoted toward
validating these culture-based models to ensure that they provide appropriate
and informative data in a manner that closely resembles the behaviour of cells
in vivo. Current work, for example, examines physical factors that are often
taken for granted during cell culture, including the topography on which cells
grow and the concentration of oxygen in the culture medium. Both of these
factors have been found to markedly influence cell differentiation in vitro.
These cell systems are also proving useful to identify biomarkers to track the
behaviour of neural cells in both health and disease and the development of
novel growth reagents. Some of the technology emanating from Dr Przyborski's
laboratory currently being commercialised through the University spin-out
company, ReInnervate.
About the Speakers
Cosimo De Bari is an MRC Fellow, Professor of Translational Medicine and Consultant
Rheumatologist in the Dept. of Medicine & Therapeutics at the University of
Aberdeen, heading a unit of stem cell research for skeletal repair in the Bone
& Musculoskeletal Research Programme (Institute of Medical
Sciences). De Bari completed his medical studies and the
specialisation in Rheumatology at the University of Bari (Italy), and obtained
his PhD from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium). De Bari
has identified and characterized multipotent mesenchymal stem cells from the
adult human synovial membrane and is currently investigating their niche(s) in
vivo to develop novel approaches to joint surface repair by targeting resident
stem cells.
Dr Jo Mountford worked with
haemopoietic stem cells since throughout career, obtained a position at the
Univ of Glasgow in 2002. Receives core funding from the Scottish
National Blood Transfusion Service R&D Cell Therapy group. Also part of the
ITI LifeSciences Stem Cell Technologies Programme inScotland which uses
HCS/HTS to identify small molecules which have an effect on human embryonic
stem cell behaviours including survival, proliferation and differentiation.
Published a number of studies looking at leukaemic stem cells and their
resistance to drugs and recently set up a human ESC system to investigate the
development of mesodermal lineages including blood, endothelium and cardiac
tissues as both lab models and as potential therapeutic options.