Date: March 13, 2010 (Saturday)
Location: Institute of Americas, UCSD (Parking is free at Pangea on Weekend)
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Stem cell research, after nearly a decade’s progress, has achieved a landmark milestone in January 2009, with the US FDA’s permission of the first human clinical trial of embryonic stem cell therapy. Based on the original studies of Dr. Hans Keirstead’s group at UC Irvine, which has shown to restore limb function in rats with neck spinal cord injuries, this human clinical trial, sponsored by Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif., is the first tested on individuals with thoracic spinal cord injuries. The FDA’s approval of this trial is achieved only after rigorous safety testing and consultation of countless experts, which marks the maturity of stem cell research for the treatment of human diseases in certain fields. In addition, more stem cell therapies are in the pipeline to move to the clinical stage in the near future. Besides the progress in clinical studies, tools and technologies in stem cell research are also gaining momentum in recent years. The power of stem cell research is not only limited to regenerative medicine, but also can be utilized to generate disease models for drug discovery. For instance, through the use of iPS cell technology, skin cells from the disease patients can be converted to any mature cell types that carry all the genetic information for the particular disease. These disease cells provide valuable tools for the discovery of new and novel drugs. This SABPA forum has invited opinion leaders from academic and industry to address the progress, challenge, and future direction of this vibrant field.
Speakers:
Lawrence Goldstein, Ph.D. Keynote Speaker
Professor, Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, UCSD School of Medicine
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Director of the UCSD Stem Cell Program
Elucidating mechanisms of human neurodegenerative diseases through the use of human embryonic stem cells
Hans S. Keirstead, Ph.D.
Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board, California Stem Cell, Inc
Associate Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Director of Bill & Sue Gross Stem Cell Center, UC Irvine
Human Embryonic Stem Cell Derivates for Clinical Application
Anne Bang, Ph.D.
Director, Stem Cell Research, Novocell Inc., San Diego
Engineering hESC to Create a Cell Therapy to Treat Insulin Requiring Diabetics
Dan Shoemaker, Ph.D.
Chief Technology Officer, Fate Therapeutics. San Diego
Fate Therapeutics: a unique business model to translate stem cell research into new therapeutics
Wendy Levin, MD, MS.
Associate Director, Oncology Translational Medicine, Pfizer Inc.
The Journey from Bone Marrow Transplantation to Targeting the Cancer Stem Cell
Yang Xu, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology, UCSD
Stephen M. Chang, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer, Stemgent Inc., San Diego
Call for sponsorship:
$500, $1000, $3000. Please contact: Mingzhu Zhang at mingzhu99@yahoo.com
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