In any profession, conferences are a great way to learn about the work of your peers, and network with the people in your field. In addition, conferences allow you to travel to new places and have some fun with friends and colleagues. The stem cell field is no different, and there have been some great meetings in fantastic locations where scientists have learned a lot, and met great friends and collaborators. However, the variety in speakers is sometimes too consistent conference to conference. Now, grant it, these speakers are the experts in the field, and their work has been seminal in setting up the field for young stem cell scientists like myself. However, at some point, we need to make sure we give junior investigators a chance to take the lead, as the future of the field relies heavily on us (them). In addition, while these conferences should be a learning experience, they should be fun, and allow ample time for the attendees to let loose, relax, and speak freely, as in my experience, this is when the real ideas start to manifest themselves. About 3 months ago a friend of ours Mark Tomishima, director of the stem cell facility at Memorial Sloan Kettering, called me with an idea. He said, “ Hey, lets start a new conference, focused on junior investigators that’s really fun.” Our response, “Definitely!” So that’s what we did.
Let me introduce to you the inaugural, NextGen Stem Cell Conference, at the beautiful Saratoga National Golf Club in historic Saratoga NY. We currently have over 10 young investigators scheduled to talk from institutions including, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Johns Hopkins, Cornell Medical College and more. These speakers are young leaders in the field of stem cell research, with their work being published in journals like Nature, Cell Stem Cell, and Nature Biotechnology to name a few. In addition, the COO will be speaking on behalf of our new company, StemCultures, to talk about a new reagent that will enhance everyone’s research. Finally, we will have a professional speaker and online marketing expert speaking on how stem cell researchers can leverage the power of social media sites like LinkedIn to furth
er enhance their research. There will be two poster sessions displaying a wide variety of topics, and ample time for questions, including two “open floors” where we will give the attendees the opportunity to ask and/or speak about anything they like.
Now to the fun. Ahh yes, May in Saratoga is beautiful, and this golf club is fantastic. Included in the affordable registration fee are two lunches, one breakfast, and a great dinner with an open bar. That open bar will be outside on a beautiful patio overlooking the 18th hole with live music. We have set up discounts at local hotels with shuttles running back and forth to the club. In addition, we have arranged discounted tee times for those who want to play golf on an award-winning course. We also have planned the event to end early on Thursday to allow attendees the chance to visit downtown, hisotoric Saratoga to go shopping, or visit the world famous racetrack.
We are starting small, capping the event at 150 people the first year. We want to keep it intimate, and make it a stem cell conference everyone in the field will want to attend for years to come. Please share the event information with your fellow scientists, and register today to join us for something new and exciting. We look forward to seeing you there. Any takers on golf?
Please visit http://www.nextgenstemcell.com to registration information and details.
To Successful Research,
StemCultures
Information for scientists by scientists on all things related to stem cell growth including stem cell culture, culture medium, tissue culture, fibroblast growth factor (fgf2) and more.
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