Le Symposium 2016 du Réseau de cellules souches et de médecine régénérative s’est tenu à l’Institut de recherche du Centre universitaire de santé McGill (IR-CUSM) le 13 Octobre 2016.
Conférenciers principaux
Dr. Thomas Durcan
Ph.D., Professeur adjoint – Département de neurologie et neurochirurgie, Institut et hôpital neurologiques de Montréal
Thomas M. Durcan is an assistant professor in the department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University and is a member of the Centre for Neurodegenerative disease group at the MNI. Durcan received his Bachelor of Science from University College Dublin, Ireland, before moving to the USA where he obtained his PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Notre Dame in 2007. For his postdoctoral research, Durcan joined the Parkinson’s research group of Dr Edward Fon, were he focused on the function of deubiquitinating enzymes in Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. His current research program is focused on the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and mouse models to understand how specific pathways are affected in Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. In addition to his academic appointment, Durcan manages the new Brain Canada iPSC-CRISPR translational platform at the MNI, focused on providing iPSC-derived neurons for use in different academic and translational projects. During this time, he has published in many prestigious scientific journals including Journal of Cell Biology, EMBO Journal, and Human Molecular Genetics. He has previously received research support from the Parkinson’s Society of Canada, Parkinson’s Disease Foundation and National Ataxia Foundation. He is currently funded through a research grant from the Michael J Fox Foundation.
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Dr. Wise Young
M.D., Ph.D., Professeur émérite – Directeur fondateur, W »M » Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience
Dr. Young is committed to bringing treatments to people with spinal cord Injuries. He built and trained a twenty-five center clinical trial network in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong where human clinical trials using umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells and lithium are underway. In the initial results from the Phase II trial in Kunming, China, 75% of the participants (15 out of 20) recovered walking with a rolling walker. He is establishing clinical trial networks in the United States, Norway, and India and will start Phase IIB Trials in 2015 and Phase III trials in 2016.
Dr. Young led the team that discovered and established high-dose methylprednisolone (MP) as the first effective therapy for spinal cord injuries. This 1990 work upended concepts that spinal cord injuries were permanent, refocused research, and opened new vistas of hope. He also developed the first standardized rat spinal cord injury model used worldwide for testing therapies, formed the first consortium funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to test promising therapies, and helped establish several widely accepted clinical outcome measures in spinal cord injury research.
Dr. Young founded and served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Neurotrauma. He organized the International and National Neurotrauma Societies as forums for scientists to collaborate on spinal cord injury and brain research. He served on advisory committees for the NIH, National Academy of Sciences, and NICHD, and on many spinal cord injury advisory boards.
Philip Welford
Directeur exécutif, Réseau de cellules souches
Influential Senior Leader combining strengths in business acumen, government relations and non-profit partnerships to deliver 15+ years of success in organizational growth and change. Proven strategic vision grounded in execution and accountability. Significant contributions in business development and client relationships.
The Stem Cell Network (SCN) is Canada’s premier research organization dedicated to enabling the translation of stem cell research into clinical applications, commercial products and public policy. Established in 2001 by the Government of Canada, SCN has links to 30 Canadian universities and hospitals, supported 12 clinical trials, 11 start-up companies, incubated several international and Canadian research networks and organizations, funded more than 120 researchers, trained over 2,000 highly qualified personnel, and established the Till & McCulloch Meetings, Canada’s foremost stem cell research event.