Welcome

Stem cell research and technology represent a major challenge for treating non-otherwise curable patients. A decade of intensive research has demonstrated that initial hopes based more on enthusiasm than on solid scientific bases can be translated in factual techniques only by adopting more rigorous procedures and strategies. Among other major impediments, the failure so far experienced in applying stem cell technologies to repair parenchymal organs can be ascribed to the lack of sufficient knowledge on basic mechanisms, but also standardized criteria and protocols. Very often, each laboratory follows its own “recipe” using erratic nomenclature and non comparable, if not confusing, experimental protocols. All this makes it difficult to learn from the others and, ultimately, hampers the progression of knowledge on stem cell behaviour.

The ambitious goal of this meeting is to gather the most innovative and scientifically robust knowledge and technologies on stem cells and involve investigators from academy and industry in formulating recommendations to standardize the isolation and manipulation of stem cells using solid and well-documented knowledge rather than fragmentary and often unrepeatable experimental reports.