Georgia Tech’s Stem Cell Engineering Center is hosting a half-day workshop on May 9, 2011 at the Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience.  Seventy-five scientists and trainees from seven different departments at Georgia Tech, Emory University, Morehouse School of Medicine and the University of Georgia are convening to discuss research from various fields relating to stem cell engineering.  

Aligned with the mission of the Stem Cell Engineering Center, the purpose of this workshop is to cultivate teams of researchers from the basic sciences to address key hurdles and technological challenges currently impeding the development of stem cell therapeutics and diagnostics.  

Stem cells, or unspecialized cells, hold tremendous promise as a biological resource for regenerative medicine therapies, pharmaceutical discovery and development, and cell-based diagnostic assays. Transforming the potential of stem cells into viable biomedical technologies and commercial applications is dependent on developing efficient, robust, non-destructive and scalable strategies to control, assay and manufacture stem cells and stem cell-derived products.  

Many of the unique challenges posed by stem cell research could be addressed by applying innovative technological advances occurring in adjacent disciplines for similar purposes, but different applications. Presentations during the workshop will include talks on differentiation technologies, bioanalytical techniques, multi-scale phenotypic analysis and stem cell biomanufacturing.