Stresa, Italy
May 14 - May 16, 2009
Stem cell research is currently one of the most active fields in biology as well as one of the most controversial. It attracts attention from the scientific community and from the general public, often sending contradictory messages: great hopes for a rapid development of innovative therapies or great fears of overstepping natural boundaries that should not be reached.
The research area related to all the different aspects of stem cell research is vast and impossible to cover to any significant extent within the format of a Symposium. Therefore we decided to operate a selection based upon our collective experience and scientific interests in order to bring together scientists with different backgrounds and experimental approaches stimulating interdisciplinary contacts in a relaxed environment.
The Symposium will deal with the basic concepts of stemness and cellular reprogramming which will be illustrated side by side with the related aspects of reproductive biology. Assisted reproduction will be seen both as source of different types of stem cells as well as target for innovative therapies. Tissue specific stem cells are sometimes seen as an alternative to pluripotent stem cells and the Symposium will illustrate progress in two very active field: muscular/cardiac tissue and the central nervous system.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the conclusion of this conference, the participant will be updated on:
- The principles and mechanisms which define a stem cell;
- The concept that phenotype is no longer an immutable feature of somatic cells;
- The close relationship between reproductive biology, stem cells and infertility treatments;
- The biology of stem cells within muscular and cardiac tissues and their therapeutic applications;
- The rapidly evolving knowledge on stem cells within the nervous system and the promise of curing neurodegenerative diseases.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Basic scientists, embryologists, neurologists, obstetricians, gynecologists, cardiologists, health institution managers and post graduate students involved in stem cell biology, reproductive biology, neurology and muscular physiopathology.
Serono Symposia International Foundation (www.seronosymposia.org) will submit this program “Progress in stem cell biology and medical applications” (Stresa, May 14-16, 2009) for accreditation by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME), the Royal College of Physicians, London (UK) and the Italian Ministry of Health.
