General biology of stem cells

The advancement of stem cell science is dependent on first class research with integration of many laboratories in a multinational effort to create critical mass together with a broad vision of the issues to be addressed. This has been the reason behind the organization of the first Eurostells meeting. The objectives were to bring around a table all the laboratories involved in the programme together with all the European and some of the International stem cell initiatives (first session). In two days scientists from Europe and North America, together with selected representatives of Eurostells, alternated on the stage to report on the most burning issues of stem cell research including embryonic and germ cells (second session), epigenetic and cell reprogramming (third session), neural stem cells (fourth session), and somatic stem cells (fifth session). The programme was completed by a poster session with 17 posters presented by scientists of the EuroStells laboratories as well as a final brainstorming session on stem cell issues and future activities. A professional science writer was present throughout the conference, interviewing scientists and listening to presentations. This resulted in a press release posted on ESF website