Third International Congress on Responsible Stem Cell Research

The Department of Women's and Children's Health of the University of Padua in collaboration with The Pontifical Academy for Life of the Roman Catholic Church is pleased to announce the Third International Congress on Responsible Stem Cell Research that will be held in Padua, 16-18 November 2016 at Congress Center Papa Luciani, via Forcellini 170/a, 35128.

Regenerative Medicine has emerged as a new discipline based on progress in cell and molecular biology allowing isolation, characterization, expansion and engineering of cells as potential therapeutic tools. Experience in the last decade yielded significant results in the reconstruction of relatively simple tissues, such as skin or cornea. However, the use of cells for regeneration of more complex organs, such as the heart or the brain, has encountered more difficulties, probably due to a still limited knowledge of mechanisms underlying cell grafting and integration in the host tissue. In other words, knowledge in tissue biology did not parallel progress in cell and molecular biology. The concept of "replacing" diseased or aged tissues and organs with younger and more active cells, such as stem cells, has dominated the field for some years. Experimental and clinical evidence now indicates that repopulation of host tissue with exogenous cells is generally inconsistent, supporting an indirect primary mechanism other than structural integration of transplanted cells at injured tissue, and it is generally accepted that such underlying mechanisms can be mostly characterized as paracrine effects.

The traditional view of paracrine communication, based on diffusion of soluble factors among neighboring cells, has been recently revolutionized by recognizing that cells send signals via secretion extracellular vesicles. These nanooparticles, exhibiting distinct structural and biochemical properties according to their intracellular site of origin, can play a pivotal role in intercellular signaling by exchanging mRNA, microRNA, second messengers, cytokines and proteins among cells within a defined microenvironment. Extracellular vesicles can be isolated from cultured cells in sufficient amounts for clinical use, and are the object of extensive investigation for several therapeutic applications, ranging from adoptive immunotherapy to anticancer and anti-inflammatory therapy.

The above advancements bear important practical, economical and ethical implications. Moving from cells to cell products could enormously simplify clinical grade production, reducing costs and bringing such innovative tools closer to more extensive clinical use. Tumorigenic risk due to transplantation of live manipulated cells should also be significantly reduced. The role of pluripotent stem cells could also be reconsidered.

The Third International Congress on Responsible Stem Cell Research will address these issues thanks to the participation of international qualified speakers, providing a unique opportunity of learning and exchanging ideas in this emerging field of translational Medicine.

Nobel Prize Shinya Yamanaka will join on video conference, many others important guests will participate.

«The Pontifical Academy for Life of the Roman Catholic Church is proud to sponsor the 3rd International Congress on Responsible Stem Cell Research (RSCR) in Padua, on 16-18 November 2016 on "From Cells to Cell Products. Development of New Therapeutic Tools»