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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26

7:00 am Registration and Morning Coffee

7:20 Plenary Keynote Introduction

Plenary Keynote 
7:30 Tissue Engineering Strategies for Musculoskeletal Regenerative Medicine in Civilian and Military Applications
Michael J. Yaszemski, Ph.D., M.D., Brigadier General, United States Air Force Reserves, Professor, Orthopedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic
Tissue regeneration via tissue engineering strategies requires some combination of cells, a scaffold upon which the cells can attach and express their phenotypic function, and signaling molecules to direct the cells down the desired differentiation path. This cellular component often includes stem cells. This lecture will present current concepts regarding musculoskeletal tissue regeneration and the issues to be considered for its translation to clinical practice, as well as the unique reconstructive challenges encountered in combat injuries. 

THERAPEUTIC THEMES: CONSIDERATIONS FOR CARDIAC REGENERATION

Featured Presentations
8:30 Directed Differentiation of Pluripotent Stem Cells for Heart Disease
Deepak Srivastava, M.D., Professor and Director, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease University of California San Francisco 

9:00 Stem Cells for Cardiac Regeneration 
Eduardo Marbán, M.D., Ph.D., Founding Director, Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai 

9:30 Human Embryonic Stem Cells in Safety Pharmacology: A Powerful Tool to Predict Arrhythmias?
Martin Traebert, Ph.D., Head, Safety Pharmacology EU, Preclinical Safety, Novartis Pharma AG 
An introduction to the field of cardiosafety testing and the pharmaceutical industry background of differentiation of human embryonic stem cell into cardiomyocytes will presented. In addition, the potential future of the technology within the Novartis test strategy and biochemical and electrophysiological characterization of these cardiomyocytes.

10:00 Cardiology Panel of Experts
Biologic Perspective: Deepak Srivastava, M.D., UCSF
Clinical Perspective: Eduardo Marbán, M.D., Ph.D., Cedars-Sinai
Screening: Martin Traebert, Ph.D., Novartis Pharma AG
Clinical Trial Design: Dawn Driscoll, Ph.D., DCi Biotech
Imaging: Joseph Wu, M.D., Ph.D., Stanford University 
Manufacturing: Nicolas L'Heureux, Ph.D., Cytograft 

10:30 Poster Competition, Refreshment Break & Raffles in the Exhibit Hall

11:30 MMTC Breakout Groups Hosted by the Panel of Experts
Motivating Meeting for the Therapeutic Community
Join the focused discussion tables hosted by each of the Cardiology Panel of Experts

12:30 pm Luncheon Presentation (Opportunity Available) or Lunch on Your Own

1:30 Plenary Keynote Introduction 

1:40 Plenary Keynote 
Engineering Cells to Death
James A. Wells, Ph.D., Chair, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Departments of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco

2:25 Plenary Keynote 
Brave New Age of Personalized Medicine
David Ewing Duncan, Chief Correspondent, NPR Talk’s “Biotech Nation” and Best Selling Author “Masterminds”
This focus of this presentation will be on "Creative Disruptions", and will demonstrate the walking scientific response to the question: "Can they really do that?" The most important and controversial topics of today’s scientific research will be discussed, from stem cells and synthetic biology, to rising drug prices and reforming the FDA. Recently, there has been attention on science’s most significant story: a species’ potential to self-evolve. As the founder of the independent BioAgenda Institute for Life Science Studies and, more recently, as the founder of the new Center for Life Science Policy at UC Berkeley, the passion for what comes next after new technologies appear will be explored -- what happens in business, politics, science, philosophy, the media, the arts, and to society as a whole.

3:05 Ice Cream Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with BEST OF SHOW AWARDS (Last Chance for Viewing Exhibits & Posters)

HARNESSING CELLS FOR REGENERATIVE HEALING

3:55 Chairperson’s Remarks

4:00 Sponsored Presentations (Opportunity Available)

4:30 Programming Cells in Situ
Omar Ali, Ph.D., Post Doctoral Fellow, Laboratory for Cell and Tissue Engineering, Harvard University 
There are hundreds of clinical trials of cell therapy currently underway, with the goal of curing a variety of diseases, but simple cell infusions lead to large-scale cell death and little control over cell fate. We propose a new approach, in which material systems are first used either as cell carriers or attractors of host cell populations, and in either case the material then programs the cells in vivo and ultimately disperses the cells to surrounding host tissues or organs to participate in tissue regeneration or destruction.

5:00 Genetically Engineered MSCs for CNS Regeneration
Casey Case, Ph.D., Vice President, Research, SanBio 
MSCs transiently transfected with Notch-1 are more effective than unmanipulated MSCs in models of stroke regeneration. We have new data concerning mechanism of action. In addition, we have established GMP manufacturing, successfully presented our protocol to the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) and submitted an IND to the FDA.

5:30 ES Cell Therapies for Muscular Dystrophy
Radbod Darabi, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, Lillehei Heart Institute and Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota 
Embryonic stem (ES) cells are endowed with self-renewal and broad differentiation potential. However, the generation of a population of myogenic progenitors from differentiating ES cells with significant regenerative potential has proven elusive. We have recently shown that it is possible to circumvent the defective EB environment by over-expressing Pax3, the master regulator of the myogenic program. This strategy, in concert with a cell purification method based on paraxial and lateral plate mesoderm surface markers, enabled us to generate a teratoma-free early population of myogenic progenitors from ES cells, capable of promoting extensive engraftment of adult myofibers and improvement in contractile function. We are currently assessing the long-term regenerative potential of the cells and whether they seed the satellite cell compartment in vivo. These results will be discussed.

6:00 Close of Day Two

Overview | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Download Brochure | Breakout Discussions