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Le Studium Conference: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs): From Disease Models to Mini-Organs

Dates

from January 28, 2019 to January 30, 2019

Location
CCI Touraine
La Halle aux Draps
4 bis rue Jules Favre
37000 Tours (France)

Joint symposium with LE STUDIUM Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies and ARD 2020 Biopharmaceuticals Programme.

Le Studium Conference

Introduction

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are pluripotent cells obtained by the development of a technique of reprogrammation of somatic cells using 4 defined factors. Such spectacular feature deserved the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012. iPSCs have provoked a true revolution in the fields of Biological Sciences and Medicine. Scientists started to being able to access neurons derived from somatic cells (i.e. skin fibroblasts) of patients with neurological illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and use it as models for research laboratory studies. iPSCs opened new avenues for a better understanding about human cell differentiation, and for the ex vivo development of human organs. Besides, iPSCs brought new hopes for the development of cell therapies for conditions such as blindness and liver and kidney diseases. More recently, Scientists could obtain «mini-organs» from iPSCs. These three-dimensional structures mimic human organs, allowing a unique opportunity to access whole organs affected in different pathologies. Moreover, iPSCs derived from patients with the most diverse diseases are a highly attractive tool for screenings selecting new medicines from libraries with thousands of compounds.

Convenors

Dr. Denis Reis de Assis, LE STUDIUM / Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow. From Brain Institute of PUCRS, Brazil. In residence at Imaging and Brain laboratory (iBrain), UMR 1253, Inserm / University of Tours - France.
Prof. Hélène Blasco, Imaging and Brain laboratory (iBrain), UMR 1253, Inserm / University of Tours - France.


Invited speakers

Dr. Christine Baldeschi, I-Stem Institute for Stem Cell Therapy and Exploration of Monogenice diseases - France.
Dr. Delphine Bohl, Institut Pasteur - France.
Dr. Jerome Jullien, Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, Cambridge - UK.
Dr. Jari Koistinaho, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu and Kuopio – Finland.
Prof. Stevens K. Rehen, D’Or Research and Education Institute (IDOR), Biomedical Sciences Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) - Brazil.
Dr. Alessandro Prigione, Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin (MDC), Helmholtz Association - Germany.
Prof. Ludo Van Den Bosch, VIB-KU Center for Brain & Disease Research, Leuven - Belgium.
Dr. Jerome Mertens, Salk Institute, La Jolla, USA.
Dr. Olivier Goureau, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.
Dr. Alexandra Benchoua, Corbeil-Essonnes, France.
 
Contact :
Dr. Denis Reis de Assis :