International Symposium: Evolution of stem cell systems
5 July 2012
The Centre for Organismal Studies at Heidelberg University is inviting to an international symposium on stem cells on Friday, 6 July 2012. Participants will present current research on the evolution of regenerative systems and stem cell systems both in plants and invertebrates as well as in those vertebrates which retain full stem cell potentials also in the adult. Talks will be held by renowned scientists from Great Britain, Japan and the United States and their Heidelberg colleagues. The organisers are expecting about 300 registered participants.
The current event continues last year’s symposium on the occasion of the official opening of the Centre for Organismal Studies (COS). With the founding of COS, the former Institutes of Zoology and of Plant Sciences at the Faculty of Biosciences were merged into an interdisciplinary centre with the aim to study complex biological mechanisms in living systems from the molecular and cell levels up to the whole organism. Research ranging from physiology and metabolism to cell biology and development on model systems in both plants and animals can thus be carried out in close collaboration, says managing director Prof. Dr. Jochen Wittbrodt.
The programme of this year’s symposium, entitled “At the Roots of Stemness. Evolution of Regeneration Mechanisms and Stem Cell Systems”, contains contributions on the development of regenerative processes in simple animal organisms such as sponges and cnidarians and will, amongst others, discuss how the regrowth of entire limbs is orchestrated in salamanders. In comparison, other presentations will shed light on regulation mechanisms in stem cell activity in different plants. Poster presentations on the full range of this symposium’s topic will round off this scientific event. The symposium is supported by the Klaus Tschira Foundation. For further information, go to www.cos.uni‐heidelberg.de.
Note for news desks:
The symposium will be held in the Ludwig-von-Bertalanffy lecture hall, Im Neuenheimer Feld 230 from 8:30 am to 7 pm.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Joachim Wittbrodt
Centre for Organismal Studies
phone +49 6221 546499
jochen.wittbrodt@cos.uni‐heidelberg.de
Communications and Marketing
Press Office
phone: +49 6221 542311
presse@rektorat.uni-heidelberg.de
