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Notes on a neural stem cell conference

Editor’s note: The stem cell world has been rich with conferences in the past week or so. I hope to have very brief notes on Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Stanford’s interdisciplinary program on stem cell policy over the next few days. For the recent World Stem Cell Conference in Baltimore, please check for Elie Dolgin’s posts in In the Field.
The conference report below comes from Julie Clark, a scientist at Stemgent, who had previously covered the ISSCR conference for the Niche, and volunteered again. Thanks very much to Julie! --Monya

UCSF began October with its 2nd International Stem Cell Symposium: Frontiers in Neural Stem Cells . The planning committee brought together 23 of the leading authorities in neuroscience and made available a real-time symposium blog (http://nscmeeting.blogspot.com/) to facilitate Q&A.

With the possibility of cell replacement therapy on the horizon, this symposium probed how neural stem cells function in brain development and repair.

The origin of neural stem cells and building and repairing the cortex were the emphasis of the first of this two day symposium. Here are a few highlights.

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StemCells clinical trial results: Cells survive, seem safe

Transplants of a fetal neural stem cell product seem safe, according to a 12-month study on six children with a horrible neurodegenerative disease called neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis or Batten disease. Furthermore, the company reported results from an autopsy of a treated patient who died from the disease. (See Girl dies in stem cell trial for Batten disease ). These indicate that the injected cells engraft and survive in the brain for close to a year.

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Neural clustering

Here’s a trio of three early stage studies that look encouraging for using stem cells as therapies in the brain.

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