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Thursday, February 4
8:25 Chairperson’s Remarks
Marc Unger, Ph.D., CSO, Fluidigm
8:30 Human Embryonic Stem Cells (hESCs) for Tissue Regeneration: How to Get the Cells We Need
Harold S. Bernstein, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine & StemCell Research, University of California, San Francisco Cardiovascular Research Institute
Cell therapies derived from hESCs have shown promise in animal models of human disease. However in some cases, such as in attempts to augment myocardial tissue, fully differentiated hESC-derived cells may be beyond the ability to fully incorporate into and improve the function of existing tissue. To address this, we have focused on identifying subpopulations of hESCs that preferentially differentiate into specific embryonic germ layers, developing chemical and miRNA-based enrichment strategies for directed differentiation of hESCs, and creating reporter hESC lines and non-integrating molecular beacons that facilitate the selection of precursors committed to specific lineages.
9:00 Engineering the Morphogenesis of Pluripotent Stem Cells
Todd McDevitt, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory
9:30 Improved Culture Conditions for the Growth and Recovery of Cryopreserved Human Pluripotent Stem Cells
Angie Rizzino, Ph.D., Professor, Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases, University of Nebraska Medical Center
Poor recovery of cryopreserved hES cells and iPS cells is a significant impediment to progress with pluripotent stem cells. To address this problem, we have determined that Y-27632, a specific inhibitor of Rho kinase (ROCK) activity, significantly enhances recovery of hES cells from cryopreserved stocks when cultured with or without a growth inactivated feeder layer. Remarkably, hES cells that had formed relatively few colonies even seven days after thawing exhibited rapid growth upon addition of Y-27632. Additionally, we determined that Y-27632 significantly improves the recovery of cryopreserved human iPS cells and their growth upon subculture.
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10:00 Presentation
Programmable, Fully Automated Microfluidic Stem Cell Culture System
Marc A. Unger, Ph.D., CSO, Fluidigm Corporation
Cell reprogramming techniques require treating cells with multiple factors, either for conversion of differentiated cells into induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells or for conversion of pluripotent cells into a desired type of differentiated cells. Fluidigm is developing a versatile, automated cell culture system which can culture cells, carry out multi-factor dosing experiments, and image the cells in both fluorescence and incident light modes in any desired time sequence. The results of in-chip cell culture and multi-factor dosing experiments will be described and applications discussed.
10:30 Poster Competition Refreshment Break & Raffles in the Exhibit Hall
11:30 Integrated Chemical Genomics Reveals Modifiers of Cell Fate in Pluripotent Stem Cells
April Pyle, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics, Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Research; Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles
While hESCs can be maintained in vitro, cells grown in continuous culture have been shown to develop cytogenetic and genetic aberrations associated with cancer in vivo. Additionally, hESCs exhibit poor survival as single cells following dissociation, which limits the ability to perform genetic manipulation and homogenous differentiation of hESCs. In order to identify pathways involved in regulating self-renewal and survival without instability, we have developed a cell-based high content screening (HCS) assay using small molecules. This method provided a comprehensive approach for studying hESC fate in vitro and identified a number of novel regulators of hESC growth.
12:00 PM Biocompatible Grafted Carbon Nanotubes as Scaffolds for Preferential hESC Differentiation
Jennifer Lu, Ph.D., Professor, School of Engineering, University of California, Merced
Presented is our research on using biocompatible grafted carbon nanotubes as scaffolds for preferential neuron cells differentiation from hESCs. It has been found that carbon nanotube-based scaffolds promote the growth factor adsorption, leading to more selective differentiation. It has been observed that surface properties such as hydrophilicity and charge can play important roles in directing hESC differentiation. Novel responsive scaffolds have been synthesized and the potential use of such dynamic scaffolds for cell growth, differentiation and proliferation will be discussed.
12:30 Luncheon Presentation
Multiplex Biomarker Assays for Translational Research
Robert Umek, Ph.D., Meso Scale Discovery
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1:45 Ice Cream Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall
2:15 Plenary Keynote Introduction
2:25 Chips, Clones and Living Beyond 100
Paul J.H. Schoemaker, Ph.D., M.B.A., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Decision Strategies International, Inc.; Research Director, Mack Center for Technological Innovation, The Wharton School; Adjunct Professor of Marketing, The Wharton School Adjunct Professor, Wharton School of Business
As information technologies and life sciences continue to converge, new business opportunities and challenges will arise for the field of diagnostics and beyond. This keynote reviews the deeper forces shaping the future of the biosciences, from social and economic to technological and political, including the stresses they will introduce for existing business models and healthcare. Not only will bioconvergence introduce new products, services and competitors, it may create entirely new industries on a scale larger than the computer revolution has to date. Several broad scenarios will be painted for the state of the biosciences in 2025 and the forces that might take us there, summarizing a multi-year strategy study conducted and supervised by the speaker at the Wharton school.
3:05 Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) cells, the most recent advancement in stem cell research, even further widen and generate applications for stem cell research. iPS cells exhibit great promise in drug discovery and screening as well as in regenerative medicine. iPS Cells: From Screening to Therapies not only explores current methods of generating, maintaining, and utilizing iPS cells but will address the shift in using them to contribute to Shaping the Future of Regenerative Medicine.
3:45 Chairperson’s Remarks
Bruce Conklin, M.D., Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, University of California, San Francisco
3:50 Featured Speaker
Potential Promise of iPS Cells for Understanding Disease Progression
Sheng Ding, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Chemistry, Scripps Research Institute
Recent advances in stem cell biology may make possible new approaches for the treatment of a number of diseases. A better understanding of molecular mechanisms that control stem cell fate as well as an improved ability to manipulate them are required. Toward these goals, we have developed and implemented high throughput cell-based phenotypic screens of arrayed chemical and gene libraries to identify and further characterize small molecules and genes that can control stem cell fate in various systems. This talk will provide latest examples of discovery efforts in my lab that have advanced our ability and understanding toward controlling stem cell fate, including self-renewal, survival, differentiation and reprogramming of pluripotent stem cells.
4:20 iPS Cells for Cardiovascular Models and Diagnostics
Bruce Conklin, M.D., Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, University of California, San Francisco
Our functional genomic experiments focus on GPCR signaling pathways in pluripotent ES cell-derived cardiac myocytes. We use high-throughput gene inactivation methods, including siRNA and gene trapping in ES cells, and then analyze ES cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Our initial signaling studies focused on mouse ES cells, and ES cell-derived mice. We are using human iPS cells for similar signaling studies and to produce models of human cardiac disease including Long QT syndrome.
4:50 Using iPS Cells to Model Neurological Diseases
Clive N. Svendsen, Ph.D., Professor, Anatomy & Neurology, University of Wisconsin
5:20 Hoseok Song, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, University of California, San Diego
5:50 Close of Day
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