NYSCF conference to focus on translational stem cell and neuroscience research

When: Wednesday and Thursday, October 28th- 29th, 2015 8:30AM - 6:30PM

Where: The Rockefeller University, Caspary Auditorium

East 66TH Street and York Avenue, New York, NY

The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) 10th Annual Translational Stem Cell Research Conference convenes global leaders in translational stem cell and neuroscience research to present their latest work towards new treatments and cures for the most devastating diseases and injuries currently facing the world.

The two-day conference features discussions on transformative new technologies in the field, how to get new research into the clinic for patients, and challenges in the regenerative medicine field as well as disease area-specific panels on topics such as neurodegeneration, blood and cancer, and diabetes among others.

At the conference, NYSCF will announce the new, 2015 class of NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell and Neuroscience Investigators and award the 2015 NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Prize, a prestigious, unrestricted award given annually to the most promising young stem cell scientist conducting groundbreaking research towards cures. The Prize recipient will present their innovative research in a keynote address. Christopher P. Austin, MD, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, will also give a keynote address on the role of NCATS in developing new technologies and paradigms to improve the process of translating research from bench to bedside.

The session on neurodegeneration features two exciting clinical trials catalyzed by stem cell research. Brian Wainger, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, will discuss a drug candidate entering clinical trials to reduce the overexcitement of motor neurons in ALS (Lou Gehrig's diesae). In addition, Jonathan Glass, MD, Emory University, will share his research on ALS and ongoing clinical trials transplanting spinal cord cells derived from neural stem cells into patients.

A session on the clinical application of stem cell research towards cures for eye diseases will include several scientists performing or preparing for clinical trials. 2015 MacArthur Foundation Fellow Lorenz Studer, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, will chair this session. 2011 NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Prize recipient Peter J. Coffey, DPhil, University College London, will discuss his recently started clinical trial to test the treatment of patients with wet age-related macular degeneration with eye cells derived from stem cells in hopes of reversing blindness. Hardy Kagimoto, MD, Healios, of Japan will also discuss clinical trials for age-related macular degeneration, the first iPS cell clinical trial in history.

Noble Laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Weill Cornell Medical College, will chair the "Transformative Technologies" session. Feng Zhang, PhD, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Investigator will present on CRISPR, the latest genome engineering technology he helped establish, and Adam Cohen, PhD, Harvard University, will discuss the electrophysiological instruments he creates to measure neuron excitation. NYSCF's Scott Noggle, PhD, will share the latest developments and research enabled by NYSCF's proprietary technology, The NYSCF Global Stem Cell ArrayTM, the first-of-its-kind robotic technology that automates the process of turning adult cells into pluripotent stem cells.

Susan L. Solomon, NYSCF CEO and Co-founder, will moderate a panel on "Challenges in the Regenerative Medicine Field" and will be joined by Nobel Laureate John Gurdon, DPhil, DSc, FRS, University of Cambridge, Alison Cave, PhD, The Wellcome Trust, Kevin Eggan, PhD, Harvard University, and Steven Hyman, MD, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Area-specific presentations during sessions such as "Blood and Cancer" and "Heart and Muscles" will demonstrate the range of applications for stem cells to treat many different diseases. Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, will share his research on how to engineer cells of the immune system to introduce into patients to help fight cancer. Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, Stanford University, will present his work creating heart muscle cells from stem cells for various applications towards generating applicable treatments for patients.