Previous Meetings

The New York Stem Cell Science Program (NYSTEM) held its eighth consecutive annual conference on May 10-11, 2016, at the Rockefeller University. While many participants traveled only a few blocks to attend, several came from international locations including Germany, Egypt and Peru. Highlights of Day One included a plenary session on bioengineering in stem cell biology, anchored by presentations from Lawrence Bonassar of Cornell University and Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic of Columbia University.  A session on stem cell biology included a presentation from Gist Croft on a brand new breakthrough allowing longer in vitro growth of human embryos, providing a window into early human development.  In the afternoon there was a panel on the latest developments in immunotherapies, including Isabelle Riviére and Michel Sadelain of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Thinle Chodon from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The second day of the conference featured keynote speaker Sean Morrison, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the current president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).  He began his remarks with a call for public advocacy by scientists, then gave an inspiring presentation describing his lab’s work on hematopoietic stem cells that concluded with a tale of translating a basic research finding regarding bone-forming stem cells that may soon yield a cure for osteoporosis. The meeting concluded with the awarding of poster prizes to three winners:
1st Place - Nestor Saiz, Memorial Sloan Kettering
2nd Place - Nazia Alam, Burke Medical Research Institute, representing the Retinal Stem Cell Consortium
3rd Place - Shivangi Shah, Memorial Sloan Kettering

There was high praise for the entire meeting this year and an unprecedented feeling of excitement, unity and collegiality prevailed.

NYSTEM's 6th annual meeting was a two day event held on the upper East Side of Manhattan on the bucolic campus of the Rockefeller University. Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Ph.D., President of Rockefeller, provided opening remarks. The keynote address was given by George Daley, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Stem Cell Transplantation Program at Children's Hospital Boston and a Professor at Harvard Medical School and Dr. Daley was introduced by Howard Zucker, M.D., J.D., Acting Commissioner of Health for New York State.  Three plenary sessions included invited lectures from some of New York's leading stem cell scientists, as well as Feng Zhang, from MIT and the Broad Institute.  Additional plenary talks were selected from submitted abstracts and ranged in topics from regenerative abilities of sea anemones to stem cell models of diseases such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy to stem cell involvement in cancers. A Special Session panel discussion on Overcoming Barriers to Translating Bench Research to the Clinic included various perspectives on the topic and encompassed ethical and regulatory issues, as well as drug discovery and cell-based therapies. A tribute and presentation was made to Lawrence Sturman, former Executive Director of NYSTEM.  60 posters were displayed in two sessions and four poster awards were given.

NYSTEM’s fourth annual meeting was a one and one-half day event that included plenary and poster sessions, and featured many of New York’s leading stem cell researchers and educators. The Keynote Address was delivered by Dr. Mahendra Rao, Director of the NIH Center for Regenerative Medicine. Other highlights included invited speakers and presentations by the Empire State Fellow-to-Faculty awardees. Presentations highlighted the advancements in stem cell research and development supported by NYSTEM. Altogether the program included 20 speakers  and over sixty poster presentations. Nearly 200 participants represented 25-plus institutions from across the state. 

NYSTEM's second annual meeting was a two-day meeting hosting over 150 scientists from across the state.  The program started with a workshop on NYSTEM-funded shared facilities, and additional plenary sessions included Neural Stem Cells, Stem Cells and Cancer, Stem Cells in Diseases, Stem Cell Biology, Tissue Engineering and Technology, and Pluripotency and Reprogramming.  In addition to 32 plenary speakers, 24 posters were presented.  The meeting was held at The CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.