April 26-27, 2012, Biblioteca Almeida Garrett, Porto, Portugal

Homepage: www.7spce-tc.ineb.up.pt

Organization:

INEB

Conference Chairs
Perpétua Pinto-do-Ó and Mário A. Barbosa

Organizing Committee
Ana Pêgo (INEB)
Catarina Almeida (INEB)
Cristina Barrias (INEB)
Diana Nascimento (INEB)
Helena Alves (CHN)
Isabel Amaral (INEB)
Joana Paredes (IPATIMUP)
Mónica Sousa (IBMC)
Pedro Granja (INEB)
Raquel Almeida (IPATIMUP)
Raquel Gonçalves (INEB)

Overview

It is our great pleasure to host the 7th Annual International Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Stem Cells and Cell Therapies (SPCE-TC). This year’s event is organized by INEB (Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica) in association with IBMC (Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular), IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto) and CHN (Centro de Histocompatibilidade do Norte).

On a two days scientific tour, nested in the green heart of Porto at the Palácio de Cristalgardens, we will be guided by the hand of distinguished keynote speakers through the emergence and early appearance of stem cells in development to their role in regenerative medicine and disease. Thus, Isabel Palmeirim will share what is known on how stem cells clock up the embryo and endure organogenesis. Ana Cumano will revisit the stem cell paradigm system and highlight controversial issues on stem cell transplantation. Robert Clarkewill show signalling pathways that differentially regulate stem cell self-renewal in normal versus cancer stem cells. Todd McDevitt will provide the latest update on how technologies can be developed for enabling the directed differentiation and morphogenesis of stem cells for regenerative medicine therapies and in vitro diagnostic applications. Last and not the least,Alexandra Capela will take the topic up to the translational research arena, the Holy Grail for many at our Society.

Noteworthy, it is the organizers wish that the path for stem cells to the clinic will became a central point at this year’s Meeting. Within this scope, a roundtable with researchers from academia, industry and the medical community will be held to identify strategies and to maximize opportunities for a more efficient translation into the clinics of knowledge being created at research laboratories.

Therefore, we expect a fully engaged audience, vivid and eager to discuss their data amongst peers, to share and to learn.

We are grateful to all the colleagues who kindly accepted to integrate the Scientific Committee. Such large panel of fellows acknowledges the healthy growth of the SPCE-TC and makes us believe that this Society has already created quite unique conditions for the nurturing of original developments, i.e. a multidisciplinary platform of researchers that are more and more comfortable at communicating at the interface between disciplines: a place at which novelty happens!