1st Annucal Connecticut Stem Cell Technology Symposium
       
Molecular Tools for
Discovery and Translation
of Stem Cell Research
Co-Sponsored by CURE &
Applied Biosystems

Date: September 17, 2008

Location: Farmington Marriott

Time: 8am - 5pm

  

Schedule



8:00 AM - 8:30 AM Registration & Poster Pinup (Continental breakfast included)  
8:30 AM - 8:45 AM Welcome & Opening Remarks David Rowe, M.D.
Program Committee Chairman
University of Connecticut Health Center

Paul Pescatello, J.D., Ph.D.
President & CEO
CURE

Carolyn Pressman, Ph.D.,
Senior Account Manager
Applied Biosystems Incorporated
8:45 AM - 9:15 AM Keynote Address:
MicroRNA networks regulated during neural stem cell differentiation
Ronald Hart, Ph.D
Associate Director, Rutgers Stem Cell Research Center
9:15 AM - 10:15 AM Session I: Characterization of ESC Candia L. Brown (Session Chair)
Applied Biosystems, Incorporated
  Defining the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Transcriptome by mRNA-Seq Brent Graveley, Ph.D.
University of Connecticut Health Center
  Whole miRNA/mRNA Profiling from Single Embryonic Stem Cell and Early Embryos Kai Lao, Ph.D.
Applied Biosystems Incorporated
10:15 AM - 11:00 AM Break & Poster Session  
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Session II: Reprogramming Somatic Cells John Hambor, Ph.D. (Session Chair)
CellDesign, Incorporated
  Lin28 modulates cell growth and associates with mRNAs for a subset of cell cycle regulators in mouse embryonic stem cells Yingqun Huang, M.D., Ph.D.
Yale University School of Medicine
  Multicistronic Expression Vectors for Efficient Reprogramming of Somatic Cells into Pluripotent Stem Cells David Dorsky, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Connecticut Health Center
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Lunch & Poster Session  
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Session III: Lineage Progression of Stem Cells Laura Grabel, Ph.D. (Session Chair)
Wesleyan University
  Tracking hESC self-renewal signals Ren-He Xu, M.D, Ph.D.
University of Connecticut Health Center
  Transcript Analysis in Single Differentiating Stem Cells Craig Nelson, Ph.D.
University of Connecticut, Storrs
  BAC transgenic human ESC lines identify distinct stages of neural differentiation Mark Tomishima, Ph.D.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
2:30 PM - 2:45 PM Break  
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM Session IV: Isolation & Characterization of Differentiated Cells and Their Derivatives Craig Nelson, Ph.D. (Session Chair)
University of Connecticut, Storrs
  Flow Cytometry Applications for Defining Mesenchymal Lineage Progression. Hector Leonardo Aguila, Ph.D.
University of Connecticut Health Center
  Improving expression analysis from single cells by optimizing the entire analysis workflow from sample preparation to qPCR Richard Fekete, Ph.D.
Applied Biosystems, Inc.
3:45 PM - 5:15 PM Session V: Epigenetics & Complex Disease Yingqun Huang, M.D., Ph.D. (Session Chair)
Yale University School of Medicine
  Designing Stem Cell-Based Physiologic Models for Modern Drug Discovery John Hambor, Ph.D.
CellDesign, Incorporated
  Isolation and Identification of Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells Changping Zou, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Connecticut Health Center
  Epigenetic Regulation in Mouse Embryonic Development: Imprinting and Fetal Growth Guangwen Wang, Ph.D.
Children's Hospital of Boston
5:15PM - 5:30 PM Closing Remarks Laura Grabel, Ph.D.
Wesleyan University/ STEMCONN

Carolyn Pressman, Ph.D.
Applied Biosystems, Incorporated


Keynote Speaker
Ronald P. Hart, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology and Research,
W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience.Associate Director, Rutgers Stem Cell Research Center
Dr. Ronald P. Hart, associate director and member of both the Stem Cell Research Center and the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience and a professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is recognized as a leading expert in functional genomics technologies in the central nervous system and stem cells. Dr. Hart obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from The University of Connecticut in 1977 and a doctorate from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1981. Following postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University, he joined the Rutgers University (Newark) faculty in 1985. In 2000, Dr. Hart was recruited to the W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience where he also became a professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience. In 2001, Dr. Hart’s group published the first comprehensive gene expression analysis of acute spinal cord injury. In 2005, Dr. Hart was awarded one of the first New Jersey Stem Cell Research Grants and in 2007 he helped to establish the Rutgers Stem Cell Research Center through a program project award from the New Jersey Commission on Science & Technology.