Session 1 – ‘Keynote lecture’:

9:45 Prof Sir Ian Wilmut, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine,

University of Edinburgh, UK:

‘Dolly the first clone of an adult animal’

Professor Sir Ian Wilmut is Professor Emeritus in the University of Edinburgh, Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine, of which he was the Founder Director. He obtained his BSc in Animal Science at the University of Nottingham and his PhD for research on the Deep Freeze Preservation of Boar Semen, at the AFRC Unit of Animal Physiology and Biochemistry, University of Cambridge. The first calves to survive freezing and thawing as embryos were born during his postdoctoral studies at that Unit. He is best known as the leader of the team that produced Dolly the sheep the first clone of an adult animal. Earlier research in the Roslin Institute demonstrated an association between physiological variation in embryo development and changes in steroid hormone level and prenatal loss. He collaborated with colleagues at Roslin to induce sheep to produce in their milk proteins that might be used to treat human disease. He was the recipient of the Ernst Schering Research Foundation Prize, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Award in 2005, the Shaw prize in 2008, jointly with Yamanaka and Campbell and a knighthood in 2008. He is an elected fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Academy of Medical Science, EMBO, Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina and the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

 

                                           

Session 2 – ‘From Dolly to Engineered Farm Animals'

10:45 Prof Goetz Laible, AgReasearch, Ruakura, New Zealand:

‘Tailoring milk composition for human needs with progressively improved genetic engineering strategies’

11:15 Dr Chris Proudfoot, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh:

“Editing the livestock genome”

Professor Laible is the head of the transgenic livestock programme at AgResearch in New Zealand. His research is focused on the development of transgenic cattle with improved production traits. He is internationally renowned for his expertise in transgenic technologies and the engineering of livestock animals that produce biopharmaceuticals in milk. His team has been one of the first to demonstrate proof-of- concept for biopharming in dairy animals (Brophy et al Nat Biotechnol. 2003). Since then he has generated several transgenic lines of cattle and goats aimed at agricultural and biomedical applications for improved human nutrition and disease treatment options.

Doctor Chris Proudfoot is a post-doctoral scientist at The Roslin Institute. Chris graduated with a B.Sc. in Biochemistry-Microbiology from Aberdeen University and obtained his Ph.D. at The University of Glasgow. His current interests centre around the application of genome editor reagents to produce genome modified livestock, with an aim to either improve disease resistance or to generate models of human diseases. Chris was a member of the team that produced the first edited livestock through the direct injection of genome editing reagents into zygotes.

                                           

11:35 Dr Lissa Heron, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh:

‘Eggcellent therapeutics: chicken bioreactors for the production of pharmaceutical proteins’

11:55 Prof Angelika Schnieke, Technical University Munich, Germany:

‘The sheep got the glory but now the pigs are doing the work’

Doctor Lissa Herron is a post-doctoral research fellow at The Roslin Institute. Lissa obtained her B.S. in biochemistry with a minor in neuroscience at Miami University (Ohio, USA), followed by a Ph.D. in neurobiology at the University of St Andrews and a first post-doc studying synaptic changes in a mouse model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. She returned to her biochemistry roots to work with Professors Helen Sang and David Hume at The Roslin Institute, producing transgenic chickens that express pharmaceutical proteins in their egg white, with a particular interest in the purification process.

Professor Angelika Schnieke is the Chair of Livestock Biotechnology and Dean of Life Sciences at the Technical University of Munich. She has studied bio-engineering in Hamburg and has obtained her PhD at Edinburgh University. She previously worked in the biotechnology industry and at academic research institutes in the UK, USA, Switzerland and Germany. She has been instrumental in the development of key techniques in the genetic manipulation of mice and large animals, including the cloning of Dolly the sheep (together with Sir Ian Wilmut) and gene targeting in livestock. She has considerable experience in the production of pharmaceutical proteins in large animals, animal stem cells, xenotransplantation and genetically defined animal models for biomedical research.

                                           

Session 3 – ‘Alternatives to cloning for altering cell identity’

14:05 Prof Shinya Yamanaka, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University, Nobel Prize Laureate Physiology or Medicine 2012):

‘Induction of Pluripotency by Defined Factors’

14:35 Dr Abdenour Soufi, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh:

‘Mechanistic Insights Into Cell Fate Conversion’

Professor Shinya Yamanaka is most recognized for his discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which are differentiated cells that have been reprogrammed to the pluripotent state. He is Director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), which was founded in 2008 in response to his discovery, at Kyoto University and Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes. Since his breakthrough finding, he has been the recipient of many prestigious awards including the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the 100th Imperial Prize and Japan Academy Prize, and the Wolf Prize in Medicine. The significance of iPSC was culminated with Dr. Yamanaka being awarded the Nobel Prize in 2012.

Doctor Abdenour Soufi is a Chancellor’s fellow at the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine and the Institute for Stem Cell Research at the University of Edinburgh. He has studied Biochemistry and has obtained a PhD in Biophysics from the University of Bristol. Abdenour did his postdoctoral studies with Prof Kenneth Zareth at the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A. where he performed seminal work on the transcriptional control of reprogramming tissue cells to become stem cells (iPS). He was the first to propose that transcription factors act as pioneer factors during iPS reprogramming (Soufi et al., 2012 Cell, Soufi et al., 2015 Cell). His research is focussed on revealing how chromatin structure controls cellular identity. Abdenour has recently received an MRC Career Development Award to engineer synthetic factors that are more potent in cellular reprogramming.

                                           

14:55 Dr Sally Lowell, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh:

‘Unpredictability and variability during differentiation of pluripotent cells’

15:15 Prof Marius Wernig, Stanford University, USA:

‘Direct reprogramming between somatic lineages’

Doctor Sally Lowell is a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow in Basic Biomedical Science. She did her PhD with Fiona Watt at CRUK followed by postdoctoral positions with David Anderson at Caltech and Austin Smith in Edinburgh. Dr Lowell is interested in understanding how pluripotent cells differentiate. She has identified transcription factors that control the first steps towards differentiation, and which can be exploited as markers of early primed or committed states. She is also investigating how events outside the nucleus, particularly cell adhesion and tissue morphology, may influence the way that pluripotent cells receive and interpret differentiation cues. By uncovering the interplay between transcription, signalling, and morphogenesis, the ultimate aim is to discover the hidden rules behind the apparent unpredictability of the differentiation response.

Marius Wernig is an Associated Professor of Pathology at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University. He has studied Medicine at the University of Vienna and has obtained an MD-PhD degree from the Ludwig-Maximilian-University and Technical University in Munich. After postdoctoral studies with Otmar Wiestler in Bonn and Rudolf Jaenisch at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, U.S.A. he has obtained his current position at Stanford University. Prof Wernig works on epigenetic reprogramming mechanisms that determine cell fate identity. He was the first who has demonstrated that mouse fibroblasts can be directly converted into functional neuronal cells (Vierbuchen et al., 2010, Nature). His research is focussed on technologies to improve gene targeting in human iPS cells with a long-term goal to correct disease-causing mutations. For his outstanding scientific contributions Prof Wernig has received many awards including the Cozzarelli Prize of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A., the Outstanding Young Investigator Award of the International Society for Stem Cell Research and the Ascina Award of the Republic of Austria.

                                           

Session 4 – 'Taking stem cell science towards the clinic'

16:20 Prof Paul Tesar, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA: ‘Chemical control of endogenous stem cells for treatment of myelin disorders’

16:50 Prof Clare Blackburn, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine,

University of Edinburgh:

‘A Regenerative Approach to Rebuilding the Adaptive Immune System’

Paul Tesar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Genetics at Case Western Reserve University (Ohio, USA). Paul Tesar graduated with a B.S. in biology from Case Western Reserve University and has obtained his PhD at Oxford University. He is interested in genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that contribute to neuro-developmental disorders and is using induced pluripotent stem cells from human patients to analyse molecular mechanisms of these diseases. He was the first to discover and isolate epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs) and has received numerous scientific awards for his work; including the Harold M. Weintraub Award of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Beddington Medal of the British Society for Developmental Biology, and being named a Robertson Investigator of the New York Stem Cell Foundation.

Professor Clare Blackburn is a stem cell scientist whose research investigates the development, maintenance and age-related degeneration of the thymus, an essential organ of the immune system. Her lab focuses on how the epithelial cells needed to sustain thymus function develop and are regulated throughout life, with a particular emphasis on understanding regulation of thymic epithelial stem/progenitor cells. Their overall goal is to contribute to developing improved strategies for boosting thymus function in patients. Beyond her scientific research, Clare has pioneered development of a high impact public engagement programme around stem cell research and regenerative medicine, including the multilingual public information website, http://www.eurostemcell.org. She has a strong interest in the use of film as a tool for schools and public engagement in science, and has co-produced 7 science documentaries.

                                           

17:10 Prof Andrew Jackson, MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh:

‘Microcephaly: a stem cell disorder?’

17:30 Prof Marc van de Wetering, Princess Maxima Center, Utrecht, Netherlands:

‘Modelling cancer in Organoids’

 

Professor Jackson is a Programme Leader at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, University of Edinburgh. He is also an honorary consultant in Clinical Genetics, and was elected as a member of EMBO in 2013. He trained in Medicine in Newcastle, graduating BMedSci in 1990 and MBBS in 1993. His clinical and research postgraduate training was in Newcastle, Leeds and Sheffield, with his PhD undertaken in the laboratory of Prof Geoff Woods on the molecular basis of primary microcephaly. Over the past 15 years his research has focussed on the identification of genes for inherited neurological disorders and in defining the functional role of the proteins they encode. The Jackson lab has discovered 12 human disease genes acting in growth and inflammation, all involved in fundamental cellular processes. From a starting point of human disease, his research goal is to provide new insights into basic biological processes.

Professor Marc van de Wetering is a senior researcher at the Princess Maxima Center for Pediatric Oncology. He did his PhD study in the lab of Hans Clevers where he studied T cell development. After obtaining his PhD, he continued to work in the Clevers’s lab where the experiments led him from Wnt signalling in Xenopus and Drosophila, to intestinal stem cells and colon cancer. He has strong expertise in organoid technology and is currently exploring the use of patient derived brain cancer organoids for fundamental research and precision medication.