ARCHIVE - MARCH 2007

LONDON REGENERATIVE MEDICINE NETWORK

6.00 pm Thursday 22nd March 2007


The March meeting of the London Regenerative Medicine Network is to be held in the evening of Thursday 22nd March at the Guy’s Hospital Campus of King's College London at London Bridge - Harris Lecture Theatre, Hodgkin Building.

This meeting is FREE OF CHARGE due to the generous sponsorship of BD Biosciences

bd_bio


Everyone welcome!

The event will include:

Keynote: Dr. Alan Colman - CEO, ES Cell International (Singapore) PLUS a member of the team that cloned 'Dolly the Sheep'

Prof. Alicia J El Haj – Director, Magnecell PLUS holds a personal chair in Cell Engineering at Keele University

Nicholas Sleep MBA – CEO Magnecell

Prof. Lars Sundstrom - CSO, Capsant PLUS Professor of Applied Neurosciences, Southampton University



SPEAKERS:

KEYNOTE - DR. ALAN COLMAN

ES CEll
Stem cells and their prospects for revolutionising human medicine are now fixtures in the public imagination. The enterprise of converting discoveries at the bench into safe, useful and profitable cell therapies is a laudable though daunting objective. There are many stakeholders - patients, scientists, investors, company personnel, clinicians, the public, etc. With expectations so high and many critics waiting to pounce on underachievement, it is essential that some early success is achieved. In this Keynote Presentation, Alan will showcase some of the work ES Cell International is doing in Singapore as well as discussing strategies in the public and private sectors that will go someway to satisfying the aspirations of the stakeholders at large.

Currently Dr. Alan Colman is the Chief Executive Office of ES Cell International, Singapore, which specialises in the development of cell therapies for diabetes and cardiac failure from human embryonic stem cells. Prior to 2002, Alan was research director of transgenic sheep company, PPL Therapeutics, at Roslin, Edinburgh. Alan's most recognised contribution is working in conjunction with the Roslin Institute, to clone 'Dolly the Sheep'. His move to mammals (beginning 1987) coming after a long academic career studying protein secretion in frog eggs and embryos. Alan's hobbies include hill walking, rafting, scuba diving and watching London football teams lose!


PROF. ALICIA EL HAJ
logo
There as currently a great unmet need to control stem cell differentiation in vitro and in vivo. This presentation will focus of a highly innovative, novel and award winning technology, MICA. Magnecell Ltd. is a spin off company from Keele University which has arisen from a Welcome Trust Showcase Award to Alicia El Haj and Jon Dobson. The Magnecell MICA system involves remote magnetic activation of particle tagged ion channels and mechanoresponsive receptors in the membranes of cells. MICA systems have both major applications in the pharmaceutical industry as well as in stem cells and regenerative medicine. For example, in vivo animal models have shown that the MICA systems can be used to control stem cell differentiation remotely outside the body with current applications in cartilage regeneration. Other applications such as stem cell targeting relevant to regenerative medicine will also be described.

Prof. Alicia El Haj is a co-founder + Director of Magnecell Ltd, holds a personal chair in Cell Engineering plus is currently Research Director at the Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine which underpins the development of a new Medical School between Manchester and Keele Universities. The research programmes of the 5 star rated institute, located on hospital sites, is at the clinical interface, with patient specific (autologous) chondrocyte transplant (ACT) trials for cartilage repair already enrolling patients. More stem cell patient treatments are already planned in orthopaedic repair. Alicia is well recognised is an expert in the field of connective tissue engineering and regenerative medicine funded by the BBSRC, EPSRC, Welcome and EU with extensive publications in the field. She is President of the UK Cell and Tissue Engineering Society.


NICHOLAS SLEEP MBA

logo
Nicholas Sleep is the Chief Executive Officer of Magnecell Ltd. Nick has been working in the life science industry for more than ten years. Nick was previously Vice President for business development at Procognia where he carried out a number of in-licensing and out-licensing deals for Procognia's glycoanalysis and protein array technologies. Before that, Nick ran the informatics business unit at The Automation Partnership, developing enterprise inventory management systems to give pharmaceutical companies distributed control over their compound collections. He holds an MBA from Cranfield University and a MEng from UMIST.


PROF. LARDS SUNDSTROM

capsantL72
Currently there is a great need to generate more predictable systems for testing new drugs before applying these to patients. While animal models currently occupy centre stage in this respect there is increasing societal pressure to find in-vitro alternatives and concerns over their ability to accurately reflect characteristics of human disease. At Capsant they have been developing complex in-vitro systems to study efficacy and toxicity of new drugs based on 3-dimensional tissue culture of animal and human cells on an air-liquid interface. Using their 'Hi-Spot' technology Capsant have been able to generate mixed tissue-like structures that display organotypic (normal organ-like) responses and have functional characteristics similar to those of the original tissue they were derived from.

Prof. Lars Sundstrom is Chief Scientific Officer and one of the founders of Capsant Ltd. a spin-out company from Southampton University which has been developing organotypic (normal organ-like) in-vitro systems for drug testing. Lars graduated with a B.A. and D.Phil from Oxford University and is now in the Division of Clinical Neuroscienes at Southampton University Medical School, where he is a Professor of Applied Neurosciences.


AGENDA:

18.00 - Registration + networking over tea and coffee

18.30 - Welcome - Dr. Stephen Minger (KCL) - Co-organiser - LRMN

18.35 - "Cell based medicinal products draft guidelines - European Medicines Agency (EMEA)" - Dr. Christopher Bravery, MHRA

18.40 - "Three-dimensional tissue culture systems. In search of organotypic (organ-like) function in-vitro" - Prof. Lars Sundstrom - Capsant Ltd. + Southampton University

19.05 - Q+A Session

19.10 - KEYNOTE - "Satisfying all the stakeholders in translational stem cell therapy research" - Dr. Alan Colman - ES Cell International (Singapore)

19.35 - Q+A Session

19.40 - "MICA systems : A novel technology for controlling stem cell differentiation in vitro and in vivo" - Prof. Alicia El Haj + Nicholas Sleep - Magnecell Ltd.

20.05 - Q+A Session

20.10 - Closing remarks - Chris Mason (UCL) - Co-organiser - LRMN

20.15 - 22.00 - Networking reception - enjoy a glass of wine or two in the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, KCL


This meeting is free of charge to everyone through the generous financial support of BD Biosciences

bd_bio



The LRMN also continues to enjoy financial underpinning from both GlaxoSmithKline and the Guy's, King's & St Thomas' Annual Fund, plus invaluable support from the Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering, UCL and the the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, KCL.


To reserve a place, please just email the LRMN Network Secretary, Dr. Louise Mason: louise.mason@regenmednetwork.com


*****PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS A CHANGE FROM OUR REGULAR LECTURE THEATRE TO: Harris Lecture Theatre, Hodgkin Building, Guy's Hospital Campus at London Bridge, London SE1*****

Map: pdf LINK

Everyone welcome!




NETWORK PRINCIPLE SPONSORS


Pasted Graphic


Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Annual Fund



London Regenerative Medicine Network

"Bringing the regenerative medicine, stem cell and tissue engineering community together..."



Google
www www.regenmednetwork.com



Counter