• Public-private consortia developing medicines for patients using stem cell technology
• Pharmaceutical companies to explore the use of stem cells in drug development

Dr Mark Bale, Head of Genetics Branch, Scientific Development & Bioethics Division, Department of Health, UK

• How will the stem cells for pharmaceutical research sector develop?
• Examining the ongoing research strategy and potential requirements for big pharma

Moderator:
Dr Paul Rounding, Managing Director, Business Development & Operations, Artemis Pharmaceuticals

Panellists:
Dr Ruth McKernan, Vice President, and Head of Discovery Biology, Pfizer Global Research and Development
Dr Jon Chesnut, Research and Development Manager, Invitrogen

• Demonstration of automated procedures for the formatting of human stem cells
• Production of human stem cells for major applications maintaining high fidelity characteristics

Dr Tim Allsopp, Chief Scientific Officer, Stem Cell Sciences

• Establishing a neural stem cell modulation strategy in a pharmaceutical
• Setting Identification of novel targets using such approaches

Dr Ignacio Munoz-Sanjuan, Senior Scientist, Amgen

• Hurdles in the pharmacology of brain neurogenesis; generating relevant cellular models
•  Overcoming the elements responsible for the limited capabilities for myelin sheet repair

Dr Christophe Labie, Group Leader, CNS Department, sanofi-aventis

• Human pluripotent germ cell lines that display all the usual characteristics of pluripotent stem cells
•  Ability to form differentiated cell types of all three germ layers

Dr Helmuth van Es, Chief Scientific Officer, Stem Cell Innovations

• Relevance of changes in resident adult progenitor / stem cell modulation to CNS indications
• Using stem / progenitor cells to better model disease paradigms – where are we?

Moderator:
Dr Paul Rounding, Managing Director, Business Development & Operations, Artemis Pharmaceuticals

Panellists:
Dr Ignacio Munoz-Sanjuan, Senior Scientist, Amgen
Dr Christophe Labie, Group Leader, CNS Department, sanofi-aventis
Dr Lilian Wikström, Head of Research, NeuroNova

• Normal and malignant cells in the haematopoietic stem cell lineage leads to novel drug targets
• Simultaneous identification of a novel target and a therapeutic antibody

Bruce Cohen, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cellerant Therapeutics

• Advantages of 3D over 2D culture systems and methods for 3D culture and development
• Applications of 3D systems to CNS drug safety and efficacy studies

Professor Lars E Sundstrom, Chief Scientific Officer, Capsant Neurotechnologies

• Small molecules that affect neuronal, gut and blood stem cell numbers and asymmetric division
• Generating start points for small molecule drug development in multiple areas

Dr Jon Tinsley, Head of Biology, VASTox

• Efficient stem cell differentiation conventionally achieved by trial-and-error experimentation
• CombiCult™ as a high throughput method that multiplexes thousands of cell culture experiments

Dr Yen Choo, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Plasticell

• Toxicity testing: traditional approaches versus predictive toxicology
• Potential applications and benefits of predictive toxicology

Professor Ian Cotgreave, Director of Molecular Toxicology, Safety Assessment, AstraZeneca

• Developmental toxicity in humans leading to serious consequences after chemical exposure
• Developmental toxicity testing conducted on animal models as a means to predict adverse effects

Dr Gabriela Gebrin Cezar, Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• The current funding climate and the importance of translational stem cell research
• Encouraging new approaches to funding

David Macauley, Chief Executive, UK Stem Cell Foundation

•         Forging better links between basic, translational and applied research
• Stem cell research funding most effectively used to provide the appropriate infrastructure

Moderator:

Dr Mary Archer, Chair, East of England Stem Cell Network and Chairman, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Panellists:
Dr Octavi Quintana Trias, Director “Health”, Research DG, European Commission
Dr Frances Rawle, Programme Manager, Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board, Medical Research Council
Dr Colin Miles, Head, Molecular & Cell Biology Branch, Science & Technology Group, BBSRC
Dr Mark Walport, Director, The Wellcome Trust

• Scale-up and automation of hESC cultures and cryo-conservable somatic stem cells
• Reversible stem cell engineering and in vitro / in vivo models for preclinical functional validation

Professor Oliver Brüstle, Director, Institute of Reconstructive Neurobiology, University of Bonn and Scientific Director, LIFE & BRAIN

• Stratified epithelia containing adult stem cells that are instrumental for renewal, regeneration and repair
• The renewal of stratified epithelia: a functional analysis

Professor Yann Barrandon, Joint Chair of Stem Cell Dynamics, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL  

• FDA views of cellular therapeutics as ‘drugs’ and approaching clinical trials using preclinical data
• Successful animal model and toxicology examples for FIH studies and early planning for studies governed by GLP

Dr Lauren E Black, Senior Scientific Advisor, Navigators, Preclinical Services, Charles River Laboratories

• Mouse to mouse and human to mouse cell transplantation models
• Stem cell differentiation in autologous and allogeneic transplantations

Dr Jan Matthias Braun, Coordinator, Regenerative Medicine Network, Leipzig-Halle Max Buerger Research Centre, University of Leipzig

• Meet…move on… meet…move on…meet!
• Exchange over 100 business cards with fellow congress delegates, speakers and moderators
• The best networking session you’ve ever experienced!

Dr Paul Rodgers, Founder and Managing Director, Ithaka LifeSciences

• Importance of collaborations with academic researchers to ensure an ongoing IP pipeline
• Challenges of developing ‘discovery’ to ‘commercial ready’ quality and cost effectiveness

Hugh Ilyine, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Stem Cell Sciences

• Selecting the commercialisation model; device, pharmaceutical or service?
• Attracting foundational manufacturing partner, licensing development and distribution rights

Christopher J Calhoun, Chief Executive Officer, Cytori Therapeutics

• Outlining the resurgence of interest in and fund for early-stage companies
•  What do young stem cell biotech companies need to have in place to maximise valuation?

Moderator:
Dr Paul Rodgers, Founder and Managing Director, Ithaka LifeSciences

Panellists:
Greg A Bonfiglio, Managing Director, Partner, Proteus Venture Partners
Linda Powers, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Toucan Capital
Dr Werner Wolf, Venture Partner, TVM Capital
Michael D Goldberg, General Partner, Mohr, Davidow Ventures

Matching the science and the business model; generating a viable stem cell-derived product
The challenges of funding and corporate communications: a UK perspective

Michael Hunt, Chief Executive Officer, ReNeuron

    ·          Working with regulation that currently applies during product development and market approval

·          Regulatory and intellectual property landscape affecting research and commercialisation

Moderator:

Dr Paul Rodgers, Founder and Managing Director, Ithaka LifeSciences

Panellists:

Ivor Elrifi, Co-chair of the Intellectual Property Section, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo

Julian Crump, Member, Intellectual Property Section and Head, Chemistry and Life Sciences Group, London, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo

Julian Hitchcock, Senior Solicitor, Mills & Reeves

James Lawford Davies, Solicitor, Bevan-Brittan

• Challenges faced by academia to take stem cell populations into the clinic
• Strategies for making therapeutically relevant cell populations  

Dr Stephen L Minger, Director, Stem Cell Biology Laboratory, Wolfson Centre for Age-RelatedDiseases, King’s College London

• In vitro and in vivo proof of concept for hESC-derived cells; glial, cardiomyocyte and islet
•  Scope of IND-enabling data for spinal cord injury clinical trials               

Dr Thomas B Okarma, President and Chief Executive Officer, Geron

• Continued efforts to develop technologies in the emerging area of regenerative medicine
• Generating embryonic stem cells that maintains the developmental potential of an embryo

Dr Michael West, President and Chief Scientific Officer, Advanced Cell Technology  

• c-mycERTAM technology for stem cell scale-up and clinical development
• ReN001 for stroke; taking a novel stem cell line through the regulatory process

Dr John Sinden, Chief Scientific Officer, ReNeuron

•     Regulatory landscape and challenges of maintaining supply chain logistics
• Manufacturing considerations in moving from clinic to market

• In vitro & in vivo proof-of-concept demonstrating superior potency and therapeutic effect with engineered stem cells and update on ongoing human clinical trial
• Manufacture of engineered stem cell products utilizing robust, scalable, closed system, cGMP compliant technology platform in compliance with regulatory Master File submission

• Mass production; balancing quality, reliability and cost efficiency to make a scalable process
• Health policy, marketing and sales and corporate learning’s  

Dr Geoff MacKay, President and Chief Executive Officer, Organogenesis

• Identifying the unique challenges to progress towards stem cell therapies and clinical trials
• Important biological insights emerging from clinical studies

Moderator:
Dr Chris Mason, Director, Regenerative Medicine Bioprocessing Unit, University College London

Panellists:
Michael Siani-Rose, President and Founder, Theregen Corporation
Dr Geoff MacKay, President and Chief Executive Officer, Organogenesis
Dr Michael West, Chief Executive Officer, Advanced Cell Technology

• Therapy with the potential to cure underlying pathology
• Transplantation of human bone marrow stem cells differentiated to astrocytes

Professor Eldad Melamed, Chief Medical Advisor, Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics

Dr Holly Atkinson, Director of Business Development, Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics

• Current limitations of a lack of supply of islet cells and a means to deliver these cells
• Proprietary encapsulation technology offering transformational cell replacement products

Dr Alan Lewis, President and Chief Executive Officer, Novocell

•     Bone marrow stem cells and leveraging platform technology
• Human clinical results and the future of patient-specific tissue regeneration

Dr Elmar Burchardt, Vice President, Medical Affairs, Aastrom Biosciences

• Challenges of converting a laboratory cell culture procedure to production
• Key regulatory and cGMP considerations

Dr Alan K Smith, President and Chief Operating Officer, Cognate BioServices