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UKNSCN 2010 Conference a Great SuccessThe UKNSCN’s third annual stem cell science conference was held in Nottingham from 12-14 July. The conference was a great success, with 450 delegates in attendance, and 45 companies/organisations participating in the trade exhibition held alongside the plenary programme. The UKNSCN gratefully acknowledges the sponsorship provided by the 11 companies/organisations displayed on the 2010 conference homepage. A number of evaluation forms have already been submitted by delegates with some excellent ideas for improving the conference and exhibition even further next year. If you attended the conference and have yet to submit an evaluation form, please do so by posting your completed form to the UKNSCN’s Assistant Programme Manager at the address quoted in the Contact Us page. Your feedback and ideas for future conferences are very important to the Network.

UKNSCN has already contracted a venue for the 2011 conference, when we will return to our more traditional spring time slot. Next year’s conference will be our fourth and will be held at the University of York from Wednesday 30 March to Friday 1 April 2011. Preliminary information on the venue is available via our 2011 conference homepage. Please book the dates in your diaries!

New UKNSCN Small Awards Scheme Launched The UKNSCN is delighted to announce that its new Small Awards Scheme is now open to applications for the new financial year 2010/2011. The scheme is for UK academics who are seeking to offset the costs of holding national-level meetings and conferences in stem cell science and translation. Full details and eligibility criteria are available via the left-hand menu of the UKNSCN website.

UKNSCN Funding and New Management Structure Announced The UKNSCN is delighted to announce that its Research Council sponsors - BBSRC, MRC, EPSRC and ESRC - have increased their core funding of the Network to £180k per annum for the next two financial years. This commitment is therefore in place until 31 March 2011. In addition, following the UKNSCN review, the sponsors have now completed their revision of the management structure for the Network. The UKNSCN's Executive Director now reports to a Management Board comprising the four sponsors and other Government departments, and is in turn supported by a new (expanded) expert Advisory Committee of 20 members. The sponsors have appointed Dr Cathy Prescott of Biolatris Ltd as the first Chair of the new Advisory Committee. For further details on the membership of the Management Board and Advisory Committee, and how they will work together, please view the "About UKNSCN" section.

UKNSCN Review Report Published: Download Below The review report, which will contribute to deciding the future of the UKNSCN, has now been delivered to the Network's sponsors by the independent consultants People Science and Policy Ltd.

Download Review Report (59 Pages) (PDF 330KB)

This report was due to be presented to the research community by the consultants at the open Community Meeting originally scheduled for 20 January 2009 at RIBA in London. However, the meeting was cancelled by the sponsors of the Network due to low take-up of places by members of the community. The consultants therefore presented their report to the sponsors of the Network and the Chairman of the UKNSCN Lord Patel at a closed meeting on 20 January at the MRC in London. Lord Patel accepted the recommendations in the review report and the Network's sponsoring Research Councils are now preparing to implement those recommendations. They will outline their plans at the UKNSCN's annual scientific conference in Oxford on 6-8 April

UK National Stem Cell Network Launched The UK National Stem Cell Network (UKNSCN) was formally launched on 18 April 2007 by the Government’s Minister for Science and Innovation Mr Malcolm Wicks. Speaking at the launch event held at Lancaster House in London, the Minister described the requirement for a national body to improve the coordination of stem cell research and the dissemination of research results, in addition to providing a focal point for communication with overseas researchers, the media and the general public. He also congratulated the new National Network on the integral role it played recently in attracting the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s annual science conference for 2009 to London’s ExCel Centre, the first time the world’s premier stem cell research conference will be held in Europe. London can expect to host up to 7000 delegates from around the world in July 2009 when the conference takes place.

The proceedings were chaired by Lord Naren Patel of Dunkeld, chairman of the UKNSCN’s first Steering Committee. Mr Wicks’s speech was followed by four short presentations from the main regional stem cell networks in the UK, who expressed their support for the UKNSCN’s aims and activities at the national level, before going on to describe some of the initiatives they have implemented at a regional level:

East of England Stem Cell Network (EESCN) – Jeanette Walker, ERBI
Scottish Stem Cell Network (SSCN) – Marc Turner, SNBTS
Northeast England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI) – Michael Whitaker, Newcastle
London Regenerative Medicine Network (LRMN) – Chris Mason, UCL

The formal proceedings closed with a science presentation from Dr Julie Daniels of the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, which described the successful application of limbal stem cell therapy in the regeneration of corneas after eye injury.