05 November 2009
Discussions will include estimates of time to develop new stem cell based therapies for degenerative diseases, including diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord diseases, AIDS and heart failure.
At this crucial time, when the federal government is not funding any new human embryonic stem cell grants while federal guidelines are being organized, the Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation's Seventh Annual Activated Egg Symposium is bringing together an elite group of speakers from Connecticut, Massachusetts and California to share their latest research with other scientists, mostly funded by state stem cell research initiatives.
This year’s keynote, Renee A. Reijo Pera, director of Stanford’s Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Education was interviewed last year in the New York Times for her controversial research using embryonic stem cells to create sperm and eggs. She will be joined by internationally known leaders including, Dr. Gary Stein, director of Massachusetts’ new International Stem Cell Registry, Dr. Haifan Lin, director of the Yale Stem Cell Center, Dr. Laura Grabel, Wesleyan University, Dr. Ann Kiessling, director of the Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation, Dr. Ren-He Xu, director of the University of Connecticut-Wesleyan Stem Cell Core, Dr. Jesse Mager, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and I Glenn Cohen, Harvard Law School’s new Petri Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics. With attendance limited to 100, the event provides a unique environment for investigators from academia, industry and infertility clinics to meet, discuss their most recent science and form new collaborations.
Special guests this year also include, Senator Jack Hart and Representative Daniel E. Bosley, legislators behind Massachusett’s stem cell bill passed in 2005.
Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation is Massachusetts’ only independent, non-profit, - stem cell laboratory, currently located in Somerville, MA.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20091105/bs_prweb/prweb3159974
