Summary of the 4th ISSCR Annual Meeting of the
International Society for Stem Cell Research
June 29-July 1, 2006
Toronto, ON, Canada

Toronto turned on its charm – and also the heat – for the 4th ISSCR Annual Meeting last month. We report another very successful meeting that drew from the exciting scientific backdrop provided by Toronto.

We were delighted that Dr. James Till was able to attend the Presidential Symposium held in honor of himself and Dr. Ernest McCulloch and accept our small tribute to their work on the identification of the hematopoietic stem cell and their description of stem cell properties. The keynote speaker, Nobel Laureate John Polanyi, a faculty member of the University of Toronto, reminded us all of our obligations as scientists to not only performing good science but the communication of this science to those outside of the immediate scientific environment.

Attendance increased again this year with more than 2,200 registrants. A concentrated program, including seven plenary sessions, three concurrent sessions and three poster sessions kept attendees busy. As always, the strength of the program is in the quality of the presentations made by the many attendees and this year was no exception, with excellent talks and the poster sessions holding people’s attention through to the very end of the third intensive day. Review the Abstracts.

A special mention to the 2006 Junior Investigator Poster Award winners, listed below.

The 2006 offered a number of new events that we hope you enjoyed, including an All-Attendee Mixer, a Job Fair and a Meet the Industry breakfast. We hope to build on these events for upcoming annual meetings, so let us know if you have any comments on how we could maximize the value of such events to you all.

Thank you to Dr John Dick, chair, and all members of the Annual Meeting Program Committee for their hard work in developing the exciting 2006 meeting program. And thank you to all who attended and thus contributed to the success of the meeting.

Awards and honors:
2006 Junior Investigator Poster Awards. Each year awards are given for outstanding posters presented by junior investigators. This year’s winners received $250 and are offered complimentary registration to the 5 th ISSCR Annual Meeting in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. Congratulations to the winners of the 2006 Awards:

Jeff Biernaskie, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
Francesca Ficara, Stanford University, California, USA
Alice Gerrits, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Eric Lechman, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada
Chi-Wei Lu, Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston USA

2006 Travel Fellowship Awards. Congratulations are again extended to the awardees of the 2006 Travel Fellowships.

Stem Cell Network Travel Awards: Valerie Cortin, Poh Tan, Nicole zur-Nieden, Brad Dykstra, Min Liu

The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Travel Awards: Daniel Blashki, Sebastian Dworkin, Susan Hawes, Shahar Cohen, Manoj Kumar, Anees Fatima, Renee Gordon, Gaelle Stukart Parsons, Hui Min Tan, Elena Vazey, Alice Gerrits, Josef Wagner, Yohei Hayashi, Raymond Ching-Bong Wong, Ignacio Flores, Hui Theng Gan, Sanna-Maria Hede, David Breault, Karolina Lundin, Sophia Bruggeman, Milla Mikkola

ISSCR Travel Awards: Hossein Baharvand, Anjali Suhas Shiras, Olga Gordeeva, Prabha D. Nair, Andrei V. Krivtsov, Sudhanshu P. Raikwar

Updated June 25, 2008