StN Spotlight Series offers insights into biomedicine and ELSA research in NRW

The Stem Cell Network NRW has launched the virtual exchange format “StN Spotlight Series” under the motto “Connecting Stem Cell Scientists in NRW“. After a longer break the series was resumed in May 2021 and has been started with a Research Spotlight (Marcelo Szymanski, UK Aachen) and a Member Spotlight (Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences).

Stem cell research has been accompanied by complex and, in some cases, highly controversial moral debates and has gone hand in hand with questions of normative classification since the beginnings of this field of research. Therefore, in 2021 our Spotlight Series will not only consist of talks from the biomedical field, but also include interesting contributions on the ethical, legal and social aspects of stem cell research. On June 17,Dr. Alexander Christian (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf) started off with a Research Spotlight on “Obstacles in debating ethics of human embryonic stem cell research”. The talk was anticipated with great interest. Numerous scientists took advantage of the offer and followed Dr. Christian’s lecture. Afterwards, lively discussions ensued between participants from the different fields of expertise.

Every interested stem cell scientist is invited to join!

Below you will find an overview of the upcoming Spotlight talks:

• 01.07.: Cancer Cell Fusion (Research Spotlight with Prof. Dr. Thomas Dittmar, Witten/Herdecke University)
• 15.07.: Stem Cell Based Modeling of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Goes 3D (Research Spotlight with Dr. Nina Graffmann, University Hospital Düsseldorf)
• 29.07.: SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication in IPSC derived retinal organoids (Research Spotlight with Dr. Yotam Menuchin Lasowksi, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine Münster)
• 12.08.: Endoscopic Spraying of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells: An In Vitro Study for Local Cell Therapy of the Lungs (Research Spotlight with Dr. Lena Thiebes, RWTH Aachen University)
• 26.08.: SARS-CoV-2 Infections in iPS Derived Human Lung Organoids (Research Spotlight with PD Dr. Thorsten Müller, Ruhr University Bochum) 
• 09.09.: Vascular Wall-resident Mesenchymal Stem Cell Fates within Lung Cancer (Research Spotlight with Prof. Dr. Diana Klein, University Hospital Essen) 
• 23.09.: Translational Specialization in Pluripotency by RBPMS Poises Future Lineage-Decisions (Research Spotlight with Dr. Leo Kurian, University of Cologne) 
• 07.10.: Pain Patient Specific iPS-cells for Functional Disease Modeling (Research Spotlight with Anika Neureiter, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen University)
• 21.10.: Cell Populations From Cord Blood for Advanced and Regenerative Therapies (Research Spotlight with Prof. Dr. Gesine Kögler, University Hospital Düsseldorf)
• 04.11.: Research Spotlight with Prof. Dr. Daniel Nettersheim, University Hospital Düsseldorf - title tba 
• 18.11.: Ethical implications of stem cell research (ELSA Research Spotlight with Prof. Dr. Annette Dufner, University of Bonn)
• 02.12.: Programing Human Stem Cells to Cell Types of Interest (Research Spotlight with Prof. Dr. Volker Busskamp, University Hospital Bonn)

The Spotlight Series takes place as a video conference. The talks are held in English. Usually, the Spotlight talks take place every 2^nd Thursday at 2 pm. No fees are charged for participation, but a registration in advance for the respective date and acknowledging a confidentiality agreement are required to attend. The registration link and a short abstract of the respective Spotlight talk will be provided by email in the week before the event. Each Spotlight talk starts with a 20-minute lecture after which the speaker is available for questions and there is room for further discussions. In past meetings, there were some really good debates!

Feel free to contact us, if you are interested to present exciting research findings, your new paper or to give insights into the work of your institute. The team of the coordination office is happy to receive contributions (info[at]stammzellen.nrw.de). Further information about the Spotlight Series is provided on our website.