International Symposium on Stem Cell Ageing and Regenerative Engineering

Professor Gerald de Haan is the Scientific Director of the European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing. His research goal is to further improve the understanding of mechanisms that specify normal stem cell functioning. His group is interested in the unique genetic and epigenetic program that distinguishes stem cells from non-stem cells using state-of-the art genomic tools to search for common molecular events in stem cells at distinct phases in hematopoietic development and aging. The team studies how stem cells can be transplanted, and which mechanisms ensure their proper homing and subsequent engraftment to the bone marrow after transplantation. The group is addressing how stem cell self-renewal alters with age, and how enhance stem cell renewal can be exploited in stem cell expansion protocols in vivo and in vitro.

A/Professor Xianmin Zheng is a group leader at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and her team is working towards a treatment for Parkinson’s disease, which causes the death of nerve cells in the brain that are needed for agile and controlled muscle movement. Dr. Zeng has developed methods to induce stem cells to transform into the type of nerve cells that are depleted in Parkinson’s disease.  These nerve cells produce dopamine, a chemical signal that helps deliver the brain’s orders to the muscles.  Her team has been able to derive such nerve cells from embryonic stem cells, and also from the modified adult cells called induced pluripotent stem cells.  These induced pluripotent stem cells can mimic the versatility of embryonic stem cells.

Professor Gordon Lynch’s team is currently investigating skeletal muscle development and regeneration following injury and repair from single muscle stem cells, through to functional muscle fibres and whole muscles. His team has a specific focus on stem cell self-renewal and how cellular metabolism may regulate the commitment of muscle stem cells to the myogenic lineage. Prof. Lynch hopes that a better understanding of these mechanisms will translate to improvements in autologous stem cell transplant therapies applicable to many muscle diseases and conditions.

Professor von Itzstein is the Director of Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics which is the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere and only one of a few in the world. The Institute’s researchers collaborate with leading scientists around the globe to build a critical mass around carbohydrate-based research in areas of clinically significant diseases. Prof. von Itzstein has a major research effort in the area of drug discovery focused on influenza and other viruses, drug-resistant bacteria and cancer.  He has international standing in glycoscience and drug discovery particularly in the area of anti-infective drug discovery. Prof. von Itzstein lead the team that discovered the anti-flu drug Relenza in 1993. It was the first ‘designer’ drug to defeat influenza.

Professor George Mellick’s research explores the genetics of Parkinsonism and the interactions between genetic and environmental factors that contribute to onset and development of the disease. He leads the Queensland Parkinson's Project and develops human cellular models of sporadic and genetic forms of this neurodegenerative disease. Prof. Mellick has been a long-time advocate for people with Parkinson’s disease and is currently President of Queensland's peak Parkinson’s disease Society (Parkinson’s Queensland Incorporated). He is also the Vice-President of the federal national association, Parkinson's AUSTRALIA.

A/Professor Hilda Pickett is Head of the Telomere Length Regulation Unit at Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI). Her lab is investigating the mechanism of telomere rapid deletion by telomere trimming, how telomere length contributes to cell proliferation and human health, and how telomere maintenance mechanisms become activated in cancer cells. The Pickett lab is also using next generation sequencing technologies to study telomere length and telomere sequence content. This research will underpin further clinical studies, and will impact upon cancer control and the treatment of short telomere syndromes.

Dr Jana Vukovic leads the Neuroimmunology and Adult Neurogenesis lab at UQ. Dr Vukovic has recently demonstrated that microglia can exert a dual and opposing influence over adult neurogenesis (the birth of new neurons) in the hippocampus under different physiological conditions, namely exercise and ageing, and that signalling through the chemokine receptor, CX3CR1, critically contributes towards this. The goal is now to elucidate exactly how physiological changes associated with exercise, as well as ageing, influence microglial function and adult neurogenesis. The ultimate goal is to link cellular events to altered behaviour, and to harness the regenerative potential of neural stem / progenitor cells to stimulate optimal cognitive function and treat conditions associated with learning and memory deficits such as dementia.

Dr Joseph Powell leads the Single Cell and Computational Genomics Group at UQ, dedicated to decipher large amounts of genomic sequence information to uncover disease-causing genes and the causal mechanisms that activate them, paving the way for a disease free future. His group operates one of the largest high-throughput single cell sequencing labs in Australia. His team is pushing the bounds of this technology, generating novel molecular methods for running high-frequency cell sequencing and creating new biotechnology and computational tools to interrogate data cheaply and in interesting ways, placing them at the forefront of computational and statistical genomics.

More information can be obtained from the workshop co-ordinator, Dr Brit Winnen.