October 8 is Stem Cell Awareness Day, an international celebration of all things stem cells – education, research and exciting progress toward therapies. From the 1961 discovery of blood-forming stem cells, to the 1981 isolation of mouse embryonic cells, to the 1996 creation of Dolly the Sheep and to the 2006 generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, stem cells have transformed our understanding of the human body and disease.

Stem Cells in Focus Webcast

The Science of Regenerative Medicine Ben Paylor, Canadian Stem Cell Network Learn more about the basics of stem cell biology and pose your questions directly to Mr. Paylor during a live public webcast, Wednesday, October 8 at 12 pm ET (USA).

It is exciting to talk about stem cell discoveries that have found their way to the clinic – bone marrow transplantation and therapies to treat damage to the cornea – as well as early clinical trials for diabetes, macular degeneration and other debilitating conditions. But we encourage the public to be equally excited about early and basic research and advancements taking place behind the scenes – stem cells’ role in understanding normal human development, what goes wrong in disease and injury, and drug screening and testing. These are the foundations for tomorrow’s regenerative therapies and medicines.

The ISSCR celebrates Stem Cell Awareness Day with a Stem Cells in Focus webcast entitled “The Science of Regenerative Medicine,” presented by PhD candidate Ben Paylor of the Canadian Stem Cell Network. The webinar will explore the basics of stem cell biology and will include three StemCellShorts*, voiced by stem cell experts Drs. Jim Till, Janet Rossant and Mick Bhatia, as well as a question and answer period.

The webcast will take place on Wednesday, October 8 from 12:00-12:45 pm EDT (USA) on the ISSCR Connect platform. We invite members of the public, especially educators and students, to create free public accounts and to add the webcast to their calendars. The archived webcast will be available for on-demand viewing beginning October 9.

Additional Stem Cell Awareness Day activities from our friends and partners around the world may be found at www.stemcellday.com.

* StemCellShorts is a series of animated short videos, each under two minutes that introduce basic concepts in stem cell research. The production of the videos was made possible by a public outreach grant from Canada's Stem Cell Network.