Cell News 2/2014
27
Future Meetings
Announcement – Save the Date!
We, Claudia Claus (Leipzig) and Steeve Boulant (Heidelberg), chairs of
the study section “Cell Biology of Viral Infections” of the Society of Virology (GfV),
are very happy to announce this year’s 13th annual workshop on:
Mimicking Organ Physiology
Impact of Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering on Virology
The workshop will be held at the Schöntal Monastery (Kloster Schöntal), a former Cistercian abbey in the North of Baden-
Württemberg. We invite all researchers in the field of cell biology and virology to join us the 19th to the 21st of November 2014.
We are excited to continue this workshop as a place for exchange of forthcoming technologies and lively discussions, especially
among young scientists.
The field of stem cell research is not only continuously growing; it also advances other fields of applied and fundamental
life science. We are happy to welcome four stem cell research experts as keynote speakers at our workshop. They will cover
broad apsects of stem cell biology, from adult stem cells to pluripotent stem cells. The latter including embryonic and induced
pluripotent stem cells.
Prof. Petra Boukamp
from the DKFZ, Division of Genetics of Skin Carcinogenesis in Heidelberg is especially interested in the
genetic alterations that enable the development of skin tumours. For this purpose she is working with human epidermal stem
cells and has established a 3D organotypic culture model for human skin.
Prof. Catherine Verfaillie
from the KU Leuven in Belgium has set her research focus on hematopoietic stem cell proliferation
and differentiation. She wants to compare multipotent adult progenitor cells with embryonic stem cells and highlight their
therapeutic potential. Prof. Verfaillie worked for almost 20 years at the University of Minnesota, where she became director of the
University’s Stem Cell Biology Program. In 2000, she was listed as one of the ten leading innovators in science and technology
by the US News & World Report. Since 2005 she has been working at the University of Leuven, where she heads the Leuven stem
cell institute (Stamcelinstituut Leuven).
The research of
Dr. Micha Drukker
, head of the Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Independent Research Lab and the Human Induced
Pluripotent Stem (hiPS) Cell Unit at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, aims at the differentiation of human induced pluripotent
stem cells to embryonic progenitors. This is the basis for the generation of various somatic cell types, especially those of cardiac
origin, and for their subsequent application in regenerative medicine.
Ian Chambers
is a Professor of Pluripotent Stem Cell Biology at the University of Edinburgh's MRC Centre for Regenerative
Medicine. Prof. Chambers work is centered on pluripotent embryonic stem cells and the contribution of key molecules towards
their self-renewal and differentiation capacity. In 2003, he discovered one of the master regulators of embryonic stem cells
which he named Nanog after the mythical Celtic land of the ever young “Tir nan Og”. In acknowledgement of his scientific
achievements Professor Chambers has been elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation, EMBO.
We want to invite all researchers, in cell biology and virology, to submit an abstract and be part of this exciting workshop!
To encourage young scientist to participate we will award a prize for the best presentation! More details can be found at the
website of the workshop (
) or can be directly obtained from the organizers (
).
