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Overview of the 6th ISSCR Annual Meeting More than 2,800 people from 44 different countries joined us in Philadelphia for the 6th ISSCR Annual Meeting. The meeting drew its energy from the concentrated science, education and medicine community of Pennsylvania and its success was a tribute to strong local support from the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Alongside the annual meeting we were delighted to offer two events to the public in association with the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. This year’s events included an afternoon Workshop on Stem Cell Biology for educators, students and all interested—which proved particularly popular—followed by a thought-provoking Evening Panel Discussion. Our thanks to Dr Jonathan A. Epstein of the Public Education Committee for his key role in making these events so successful. We thank the 2008 Annual Meeting Program Committee for their tremendous efforts in developing this year’s strong scientific program. A special thanks to Dr. Ihor R. Lemischka, who chaired the committee, bringing his expertise and perspective to the process. In an ISSCR committee forum in Cell Stem Cell, Dr. Lemischka outlines some of his thoughts as he worked with the committee to put together this year’s meeting program. Again this year, meeting attendees were kept busy with a packed schedule, offering seven plenary sessions, 16 concurrent scientific tracks, and a range of additional education and networking opportunities. A record 1150 posters were presented over the course of the meeting, covering a wide range of aspects of stem cell research and capturing people’s attention through to the very last evening. Thank you to all who participated, and we extend our congratulations to the winners of the 2008 Junior Investigator Poster Awards (listed below). For the first time this year, directly preceding the meeting, we offered the Industry Wednesday Symposium. These industry-developed seminar series were very well attended and we were glad that so many of you took advantage of this learning opportunity. We hope to continue to offer this program in upcoming years. The meeting opened with a Keynote Address given by Dr. John Gurdon, well known for his seminal contributions to the fields of developmental and stem cell biology. Dr Gurdon’s lecture introduced the theme of reprogramming that continued to develop throughout the meeting program. A panel discussion was held on the methodologies and standards for induced pluripotent cells, the young but rapidly advancing arm of reprogramming. Sponsored by iZumi Inc. and chaired by Dr George Q. Daley, attendees asked questions of early ground-breakers Shinya Yamanaka, Junying Yu, Alexander Meissner, Kathrin Plath, and Kazuhiro Sakurada. As part of a plenary session on clinical translation, the chairs of the ISSCR Task Force on the Clinical Translation of Stem Cells, Drs. Olle Lindvall and Insoo Hyun, presented the group’s deliberations to date. With increasing effort directed at translating stem cell research into clinical therapy, the importance of recommendations for the responsible transition of basic research into appropriate clinical applications has risen. A draft document outlining the recommendations of the task force is being prepared and will be posted on the ISSCR website for public consultation. Click here to follow progress. We encourage comment from the scientific community throughout the process. The meeting closed with the first annual Anne McLaren Memorial Lecture given by Dr Rudolf Jaenisch. Dame Anne McLaren (1927-2007) was a leading authority on mammalian genetics and helped to develop the techniques that led to human in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Her sage counsel was key to efforts defining the ethical and legal implications of new developments in biological science and in shaping the oversight of reproductive biology and stem cell research worldwide. Sadly missed, her contributions continue to influence the field. In his closing address, Dr Jaenisch added his perspective to those of the other speakers on pluripotency, lineage switching and reprogramming. He shared his experiences in addressing the mechanisms that underlie these events and some of the challenges ahead. This summary barely touches the surface of the broad range of scientific enquiry presented at the meeting. Please look out for an in-depth scientific Meeting Report that will appear in the ISSCR pages of Cell Stem Cell in September, 2008.
ISSCR 7th Annual Meeting 2008 Junior Investigator Poster Awards. Each year the ISSCR presents awards for outstanding poster presentations by junior investigators. This year’s winners received $250 and are offered complimentary registration to the ISSCR 7th Annual Meeting in 2009 in Barcelona, Spain.
2008 Travel Fellowship Awards. The ISSCR again extend their congratulations to the awardees of the 2008 Travel Fellowships. ISSCR-supported Travel Grant Recipients BD Biosciences-supported Travel Grant Recipients Merck-supported Travel Grant Recipients The NYSCF-supported Travel Grant Recipients Updated June 30, 2008
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