"Stem cells in drug discovery and development" workshop to be held during toxicology annual meeting

Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (Roche) today announced a workshop to be held during the Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, UT, on March 7 - 11.

The workshop, entitled "Toxicology in the 21st Century: Stem Cells in Drug Discovery and Development," will present the current understanding of pluripotent stem cells and their utility in providing cellular models, how they are being employed to understand pharmaceutical mechanisms of efficacy and toxicity, and the practical issues and obstacles that will need to be addressed to enable regenerative cellular therapy to become a reality. Widely regarded as the father of stem cell research, Dr. James Thomson, CDI Chief Scientific Officer and Director of Regenerative Biology at the Morgridge Institute for Research, University of Wisconsin – Madison, will discuss his predictions on the impact of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) on personalized therapeutics during the panel discussion.

"iPSC-derived human cells are a very promising approach to drug discovery and toxicology testing and have many advantages over current cell models," said Chris Parker, chief commercial officer of CDI and co-chairperson of the workshop.  "We organized this workshop, in collaboration with one of our customers, Roche, to present the iPSC-based cell model to the pharmaceutical toxicology community."

The presentation schedule:

• Human Inducible Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived In Vitro Models – the Path to a Better Understanding of Individual Biology and Their Utility in Drug Discovery and Development, Chris Parker, CDI, Madison, WI
• Application of Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes in Toxicology and Safety Pharmacology, Kyle Kolaja, Roche, Nutley, NJ
• Pharmaceutical Perspectives on Introduction of Regenerative Medicine Concepts into the Existing Pharmaceutical Paradigm, Ruth McKernan, Pfizer, Groton, CT
• Developing Stem Cell-Based Therapies: FDA Product and Preclinical Regulatory Considerations, Mercedes Serabian, U.S. FDA, Silver Spring, MD
• How the Understanding of the Biology of Inducible Pluripotent Stem Cells Will Evolve: Predictions on Methods of Stem Cell Induction and the Impact on Cell-Based Therapy, James Thomson, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

SOURCE Cellular Dynamics International