From stem cells to human development

Organisers: Olivier Pourquié, Austin Smith and Benoit Bruneau

Date: 21 – 24 September 2014

Location: Wotton House, Dorking, Surrey, UK

Our understanding of human embryonic development is limited by the experimental inaccessibility of the system. Thus, we have been forced to make assumptions about how humans develop based on our knowledge of other mammals, especially the mouse. However, the recent explosion in stem cell research, particularly the generation of human pluripotent stem cells, has provided new opportunities for investigating lineage choice, cell differentiation, tissue organisation and even organ morphogenesis using human cells. Such work promises not only to provide a more complete knowledge of our own developmental origins, but also to inform our efforts to understand and treat developmental disorders and, perhaps most importantly, to help bring regenerative therapies to the clinic.

This meeting,“From stem cells to human development”, brought together scientists with a common interest in understanding human development using stem cell systems. Topics that were discussed included the establishment of pluripotency, development of the major lineages and tissue morphogenesis, as well as translational and ethical aspects of human stem cell research.

Primary neuronal stem cell culture labelled with markers to differentiate stem cells (orange/yellow) and their progeny (blue/green/purple). Image credit: Hiuxuan Liang and Troy Ghashghaei (North Carolina State University).

Human blastocyst embryo in culture stained for Nanog (green) and Gata6 (purple). Image credit: Bernard Roelen (Utrecht University).

Journal Meeting organisers – Olivier Pourquié, Austin Smith and Benoit Bruneau — Meeting organisers – Olivier Pourquié, Austin Smith and Benoit Bruneau

Organisers & speakers

Benoit Bruneau Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, San Francisco, USA
Olivier Pourquié Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, Boston, USA
Austin Smith University of Cambridge, UK

Clare Blackburn University of Edinburgh, UK
Elaine Dzierzak Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Susan Fisher University of California, San Francisco, USA
Göran Hermerén Lund University, Sweden
Danwei Huangfu Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre, New York, USA
Insoo Hyun Case Western Reserve University, USA
Gordon Keller University Health Network, Canada
Jürgen Knoblich Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Austria
Arnold Kriegstein University of California, San Francisco, USA
Rick Livesey University of Cambridge, UK
Alexander Medvinsky University of Edinburgh, UK
Hiromitsu Nakauchi University of Tokyo, Japan
Jenny Nichols University of Cambridge, UK
Janet Rossant Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Canada
Henrik Semb University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Hans Snoeck Columbia University Medical Center, USA
James Wells Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, USA
Joanna Wysocka Stanford University, USA