Poster Forum Winners Announced!

Dec 5, 2012

(December 5, 2012 — West Palm Beach, Florida) The winners of the World Stem Cell Summit Poster Prize were announced this morning by Alan Jakimo, Senior Counsel, Sidley Austin. The World Stem Cell Summit Poster Forum is the only interdisciplinary stem cell poster session covering all topics in regenerative medicine. Posters display today’s most innovative science, leading-edge technologies, industry updates, and regulatory solutions. The 2012 World Stem Cell Summit Poster Abstracts are available for download on the Poster Forum page of worldstemcellsummit.com.

The three-member judging panel:

  • Takashi Asada, Ph.D., Professor, Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, WPI Research Center, Kyoto University
  • Matthias Corbascio, M.D., Karolinska Institutet, Cardiothoracic Surgery and Anesthesiology
  • Richard Jove, Ph.D., Director, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Professor, Molecular Medicine, Member, Developmental Cancer Therapeutics Program Comprehensive Cancer Center

After the prizes were announced, Jakimo said, “Posters at conferences in any field are like new therapies in healthcare – a sign of hope. Based on the posters at this year’s Summit, we have much about which to be hopeful.”

Posters were judged on the following criteria: quality of hypothesis/question presented, thoughtfulness, scientific method, observations and the value to the field. Five posters won prizes. “This year’s five winning posters inform us about a valuable miRNA tool for characterizing and controlling the quality of cell cultures, tantalize us with reports on tissue specific stem cells relating to the pancreas and the kidney as well as the use of neuronal stem cells to target nanoparticle cancer therapies, and admonish patient advocates to engage and interact with the public and other stakeholders in the field of stem cell science and regenerative medicine,” Jakimo said.

The winners:

First Place

Poster #2: “A broadly applicable miRNA-based tool for stem cell characterization and quality control,” Primary Author: Dr. David J. Mallinson, Senior Staff Scientist, Sistemic Ltd. Co-Authors: Daria Olijnyk, PhD – Staff Scientist, Sistemic Ltd; Max Bylesjö , PhD – Senior Bioinformatician, Sistemic Ltd; Vincent O’Brien, PhD – CSO, Sistemic Ltd.

Second Place – Tie

Poster #13: “C-kit+ cells isolated from developing kidneys are stem/progenitor cells with regenerative potential ,” Primary Author: Erika Rangel, MD, PhD Postdoctoral fellow, Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Co-Authors: Samirah Gomes, MD, PhD, Postdoctoral fellow, ISCI; Raul Dulce, PhD – Postdoctoral fellow, ISCI; Courtney Premer, BS – research associate, ISCI; Claudia Rodrigues, PhD – Research assistant professor, ISCI; Rosemeire Kanashiro-Takeuchi, PhD – Research Assistant Professor, ISCI; Behzad Oskouei, MD – Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, UM; Decio Carvalho, MD – Medical assistant, UM; Phillip Ruiz, MD, PhD – Professor , UM; Jochen Reiser, MD, PhD – Professor, UM; Joshua Hare, MD – Professor, ISCI.

Poster #103: “Pancreatic stem cells reside in niches of the adult human biliary tree, whereas committed progenitors are located in the pancreas.” Co-primary authors: Giacomo Lanzoni, Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Yunfang Wang, Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology and Program in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Guido Carpino, Department of Health Sciences, University of Rome “ForoItalico”; Cai-Bin Cui, Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology and Program in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine; Eliane Wauthier, Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology and Program in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine; Domenico Alvaro, Department of Scienze e Biotecnologie Medico-Chirurgiche, Fondazione Eleonora Lorillard Spencer Cenci, Universita` di Roma “Sapienza”; Eugenio Gaudio, Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics Sciences, Universita` di Roma “Sapienza”; David Gerber, Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine; Mark E. Furth, Comprehensive Cancer Center/ Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center; Juan Dominguez-Bendala, Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Co-Senior Authors: Lola M. Reid, Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology and Program in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine; Luca Inverardi, Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Fourth Place

Poster 37#: “Human Neural Stem Cell-Mediated Targeting of Therapeutic Nanoparticles to Solid Tumors ,” Primary Author: Rachael G. Mooney, Ph.D., CIRM post-doctoral fellow, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope.

Co-Authors: Donghong Zhao, Ph.D. – Staff Scientist, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope; Elizabeth Garcia, R.V.T – RA II, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope; Revathiswari Tirughana-Sambandan, B.S. – RA I, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope; Yiming Weng, Ph.D – Post-doctoral Fellow, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope; Alexander Annala, Ph.D. – Associate Professor, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope; Jacob Berlin, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope; Karen Aboody, M.D. – Associate Professor, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope.

Fifth Place:

Poster #95: “Survey says: Engagement and Interaction are Needed to Avoid Swaying the General Public against Embryonic Stem Cell Research,” Primary Authors: Aradhana Verma, UC Berkeley Undergraduate Student, UC Berkeley Student Society for Stem Cell Research, President; and Eshaan Kashyap, UC Berkeley Undergraduate Student, UC Berkeley SSSCR Member.

Co-Author: Laurel Barchas, B.A. Ph.D. Program, UC Berkeley Associate Director, UC Berkeley SSSCR.

Three winners were selected in the category of Science, Technology, and Industry; one winner in the category of Advocacy, Education, and Public Engagement; and one winner for the Student Prize for the most creative or innovative poster coming from a high school or undergraduate college student.

Winners will have the opportunity to publish their research in Regenerative Medicine journal. The first place overall winner will receive a choice of free registration to the 2013 World Stem Cell Summit or $500; second and third place winners will receive $250; fourth and fifth place winners will receive $100.