| ISS2009: "Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine" |
 International Summer School on Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine was held at the Marine Biology Station in Piran from 21st to 29th August. It was organized as a PhD level course for graduate students of different biological and biotechnological sciences. The course was organized by the Blood Transfusion Centre of Slovenia, Educell Ltd., National Institute for Biology, Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, National Institute of Biology and Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) and Trans European Stem Cell Therapy Consortium (TESCT).      This was already the third International Summer School built on the same concept – a mixture of science, socializing and exchange of experience. It was intended for graduate students in life sciences and the students that participate came from very different backgrounds, with different experience and knowledge and of various ages. Students of medicine, biology, biotechnology, veterinary medicine, chemical engineers and others were the main participants. This school focused on advanced approaches of isolation, characterization and differentiation of stem cells. The aim was to introduce the students to different aspects of stem cell research and development of new strategies for their clinical applications. The course covered a wide range of topics, starting with the problem of selection of stem cell source, ethical and legislative issues, followed by laboratory scale systems and engineering, and ending with translation to clinics.  Dr. Rozman, dr Lah, dr. Smadar, dr. Minger, dr. Dominko and dr. Ivanovic at Round table discussion. Scientists of high repute from different fields of research from abroad and from Slovenia were invited to give lectures in Piran. Twenty two experts from Europe, Israel and USA kindly responded to our invitation and presented their work and the state of the art stem cell technologies. The programme started on Saturday with an afternoon discussion about Regenerative Medicine where participating scientists (Dasa Cizkova, PhD, Primoz Rozman, PhD, Zoran Ivanovic, PhD and Miomir Knezevic, PhD) pointed out poor communication and poor cooperation between medical doctors and personnel in regenerative medicine laboratories as the main downside. Lectures began with the presentation of the basic properties of stem cells and methods for their isolation and characterization. It continued with the discussion about different stem cell sources and various stem cell types and their use in regenerative medicine. On Sunday, Dr. Stephen Minger introduced the development of research and legislation in the field of embryonic stem cells in England, which is one of the countries with the most permissive laws. Lectures on the following days discussed the latest treatments for heart disease (Thomas Flanagan, PhD, Aylet Lesman, PhD, Anna Marsano, PhD, Smadar Cohen, PhD), bone fractures (Darja Marolt, PhD), the use of cord blood to treat diabetes (Marko Strbad, PhD), Gregor Majdič, PhD from the Veterinary Faculty in Ljubljana presented the use of stem cells in veterinary medicine. Tanja Dominko, PhD and Raymond L. Page, PhD dealt with the signalising pathways that are important for preserving the cell´s pluripotency – the potential that stem cells can develop into any cell type, which makes up the human body. Students and teachers gathered on Sunday afternoon at the round-table titled "Which stem cell source is here to stay?", where participants (Stephen Minger, PhD, Tanja Dominko, PhD, Zoran Ivanovic, PhD, Primoz Rozman, PhD, Tamara Lah, PhD and Smadar Cohen, PhD) discussed the most appropriate source of stem cells for use in regenerative medicine. In the last part of the School the lectures also touched the ethical problems associated with these areas, quality assurance and opportunities that arise in the market for regenerative medicine products.  At the end of the course students wrote an exam and all passed with the average grade higher than 70%. The students obtained a certificate for the PhD level course from Blood Transfusion Centre of Slovenia. The majority of the day was occupied with lectures and project work but there was also time for socializing. The traditional evening with pancakes at the Marine Biology Station is getting better every year. There was also a welcome and farewell party, a wine cellar tour and wine tasting. This year the success of last year´s Summer School (International Summer School on Treatment of Osteochondral Defects) recurred, which led us to the decision to repeat the project in year 2010.
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