Abstract
The focus of this article is to present and highlight some selected topics and emerging trends from this excellent annual conference hosted by Select Biosciences Ltd. at the Embassy Suites San Francisco Airport Hotel, CA, USA. This conference attracted a worldwide audience of more than 100 delegates representing a number of different areas – basic researchers involved with stem cells, representatives from pharmaceutical, biotechnology and vendor companies, a diverse array of industry participants from the stem cell therapeutics space, as well as stem cell clinics from around the world. The scope of industry coverage presented at this conference included stem cells in cellular therapy and regenerative medicine, pluripotency/induced pluripotent stem cells, and stem cells for drug discovery and development. These categories represented the major themes into which the bulk of the presentations at this conference were organized. The major thrust of this conference was on the application of stem cells for cellular therapy – in this regard, it is important to note that mesenchymal stem cells are the most promising types of adult stem cells for regenerative medicine and cellular therapy. Many presentations at this conference were focused around mesenchymal stem cells for cellular therapy in a number of different disease areas.
