The 2nd International Cambridge Stem Cell Symposium
The Symposium took place in July at the Homerton College. It brought together world-leading scientists working on different aspects of cancer initiation, maintenance and recurrence. The meeting covered the latest findings in stem cell biology and cancer, including novel techniques in tracking the cells of origin of various cancer types, the stem cell profile of cancer cells in some tumors and the role of stem cells in cellular transformation and metastasis.
The excellent line-up of international speakers and the 108 delegates exceeded the expectations, creating an inspiring atmosphere and a lively and interactive discussion. Keynote lectures, invited and selected talks, industry presentations and posters covered a broad range of new and exciting findings in this fast developing field of research. This meeting offered an outstanding opportunity for young scientists to discuss their research and interact with leading experts in the field.
Thanks to the many sponsors, the symposium was successful and we were able to award two poster prizes and a best talk award from selected abstracts.
The prize for best presentation, sponsored by Journal of Cell Science, went to Anna Guinot (CSCR; UK) who presented her work on the role of lung-specific micro-RNAs in regulating lung homeostasis and cancer. The best poster presented by a Postdoc was sponsored by Nature Cell Biology and won by Kevin Myant (The Beatson Institute, UK), who presented novel Rac1-dependent pathways, including ROS and NF-kB signaling, regulating stemness and transformation in colon cancer. The best poster presented by a PhD student was funded by EMBO Journal and won by Susanne Vorhagen (Department of Dermatology, Cologne, Germany) who found new roles of aPKCl that regulate the ratios of symmetrical versus asymmetrical divisions during lineage fate decisions in skin.