The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and RegenMed SA will host the second San Antonio Conference on Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine on Feb. 11 and 12 on the UTSA Main Campus.
The event will feature speakers from the UT Southwestern Medical Center, the University of Pittsburgh, the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, UTSA, the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI®), the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and many others to promote interactions among individuals and organizations with interests in stem cell biology, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and biotechnology.
“UTSA is home to a strong group of top-tier researchers who are using innovative methods to explore how stem cells can be used to address the greatest medical challenges we face,” said George Perry, Semmes Foundation Distinguished Chair in Neurobiology and dean of the UTSA College of Sciences. “This event is sure to foster exciting collaborations between our outstanding faculty and their fellow researchers in San Antonio.”
The conference will begin with a keynote lecture by Sean Morrison, Mary McDermott Cook Chair in Pediatric Genetics at UT Southwestern, and will close with a keynote lecture by Rocky Tuan, Director of the Cellular and Molecular Engineering Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh.
The event will include presentations by local researchers and students on the science of stem cells, tissue engineering, clinical applications of regenerative medicine, and commercialization and real-world applications of all of these approaches. UTSA will also host a poster session to give students an opportunity to network with top-tier researchers working in stem cell research and regenerative medicine.
John McCarrey, Robert and Helen Kleberg Distinguished Chair in Cellular and Molecular Biology, director of the San Antonio Cellular Therapeutics Institute, UTSA’s umbrella organization for stem cell research, and co-organizer of the conference, said that the event was formed because he and others in his field noted that there is a wealth of resources in San Antonio for stem cell researchers and people working in regenerative medicine, and this gathering will foster collaboration amongst those organizations and individuals.
“There is a lot of excitement and hope in these fields,” McCarrey said. “If we work together, we can do something great. That’s really what we’re setting out to accomplish.”