Welcome to 2017, a year that will likely be full of change and new surprises. I’m hoping that some of these surprises will be in regenerative medicine with new stem cell therapies showing promise or effectiveness in clinical trials.
A great way to stay on top of new advances in stem cell research is to attend scientific conferences and meetings. Some of them are well known and highly attended like the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) conference, which this year will be in Boston in June. There are also a few smaller, more intimate conferences focusing on specific topics from discovery research to clinical therapies.
There are loads of stem cell meetings this year, but a few that I would like to highlight. Here’s my abbreviated stem cell research conference and meeting guide for 2017. Some are heavy duty research-focused events and probably not suitable for someone without a science background; they’re also expensive to sign up for. I’ve marked those with an * asterix.
January 8-12th, Keystone Symposium (Fee to register)*
Keystone will be hosting two concurrent stem cell meetings in Tahoe next week, which are geared for researchers in the field. One will be on neurogenesis during development and in the adult brain and the other will be on transcriptional and epigenetic control in stem cells. CIRM is one of the co-funders of this meeting and will be hosting a panel focused on translating basic research into clinical trials. Keystone symposiums are small, intimate meetings rich with scientific content and great for networking. Be on the look out for blog coverage about this meeting in the coming weeks.
February 3rd, Stanford Center for Definitive and Curative Medicine Symposium (Free to the public)
This free symposium at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA will present first-in-human cell and gene therapies for a number of disorders including bone marrow, skin, cardiac, neural, uterine, pancreatic and neoplastic disorders. Speakers include scientists, translational biologists and clinicians. Irv Weissman, a Stanford professor and CIRM grantee focused on translational cancer research, will be the keynote speaker. Space is limited so sign up ASAP!
March 23rd, CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinics Symposium (Free to the public)
This free one-day meeting will bring together scientists, clinicians, patient advocates, and other partners to describe how the CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinics Network is making stem cell therapies a reality for patients. The City of Hope Alpha Clinic is part of a statewide effort funded by CIRM to develop a network of “Alpha Clinics” that has one unifying goal: to accelerate the development and delivery of stem cell treatments to patients.
City of Hope Medical Center and Alpha Stem Cell Clinic
June 14-17th, International Society for Stem Cell Research (Fee to register)*
The Annual ISSCR stem cell research conference will be hosted in Boston this year. This is an international conference focusing on new developments in stem cell science and technology. CIRM was one of the funders of the conference last year when ISSCR was in San Francisco. It’s one of my favorite research events to attend full of interesting scientific presentations and great for meeting future collaborators.
For a more comprehensive 2017 stem cell conference and meeting guide, check out Paul Knoepfler’s Niche blog.
The Stem Cellar 