On November 4th, the Inland Empire received a good dose of stem cell biology at the UCR hosted 4th annual Inland Empire Stem Cell Consortium Symposium. The event was well attended by stem cell biologists from Loma Linda University, California State University at San Bernardino, UCR, and our new affiliate Western University. Welcoming comments were given by Dr. Prue Talbot, Consortium Director, Dr. Michael Pazzani, Director of the UCR Office of Research and Economic Development, and Pedro Soria, CSUSB CIRM Bridges student.

Morning platform presentations covered a variety of research topics including "Stirred Suspension Cultures for Scalable Production", the "Origin of the Neural Crest", and "Epithelial-mesenchymal Transitions in Ovarian Cancer Cells". Over 40 presentations were given in the energetic Poster session which was followed by lunch.

In the afternoon, the keynote speaker Dr. Lisa Borghesi from the University of Pittsburgh led off with a presentation on "Hematopoietic Stem Cell in Chronic Inflammation". This was followed by platform talks dealing with "Alzheimer's Disease in a Dish" and "Glioblastoma Mutliforme Utilizes System Xc in Survival". The two poster winners, Wangiu Chen and Nicole Sparks, gave platform presentations on "Programming Human Peripheral Blood Cells" and " Harm-reduction Tobacco Products Alter Craniofacial Bone Development". Awards for the best posters were given out at the end of the Program by Ryan Walden.

We look forward to next years Symposium which will be hosted by Loma Linda Univeristy.

Symposium Photos