Thursday, February 4, 2010

Stem Cell Lecture At Wesleyan February 10

Update (2/9/2010): This lecture has been postponed until February 25th, because of the impending snow storm
---------------------
The Connecticut Academy of Arts & Sciences together with Wesleyan University is pleased to announce a lecture: Stem Cells on the Brain: From Politics to Therapies, by Dr. Laura Grabel, Wednesday, February 10, at 5:15 in Room 108 of the Usdan University Center. The lecture is open to the community and free of charge.

Laura Grabel is the Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science and Society at Wesleyan. A biologist well-known for her research in stem cell biology, she is also the co-director of the UConn Human Embryonic Stem Cell Core Facility, part of a one million dollar human stem cell research initiative created by the State of Connecticut in 2006. Besides her many publications on stem cell biology, Professor Grabel has recently co-edited a collection of essays: Stem Cell Research: The Ethical Issues.

She will speak about how stem cell research continues to be controversial and
is influenced by political constraints. She will consider its promise as well as recent scientific and public policy advances, including public funding in the Obama era.

She will also talk about the work in her laboratory focusing on understanding the conditions that promote embryonic stem cell differentiation into neurons, both in a culture dish and in the brains of mouse models of epilepsy.

The lecture should last about 50 minutes. The Usdan Center is the new (3 years old) building on Wyllys Avenue, a one-block street leading westward from High, between Court and College. Parking is available in the two E-Lots on Wyllys.
Those unfamiliar with the campus and needing a detailed map, should visit: http://www.wesleyan.edu/about/campusmap.html. Any questions should be emailed to pfrenzel@wesleyan.edu.


About the Connecticut Academy of the Arts and Sciences
The Academy was chartered by the General Assembly in 1799 ". . . to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest and happiness of a free and virtuous people . . . " Its purpose is the dissemination of scholarly information. For the past 200 years, the Academy has fulfilled this mission through lectures and extensive publications. One of its lectures each year is presented at Wesleyan.

1 comment:

Mary Ann Daffidils said...

Stem cell therapy has revolutionized the ways treatments are done. Though there is a lot still left to be invented, I hope scientists like Laura Grabel do more and more research on the subject to find out the correct methods to cure diseases like cancer, Multiple Sclerosis and ATS etc.
The need is however, is to
ensure that these are stored in perfect condition before actually getting transplanted to the receiver’s body. This has made the industry of 'controlled rate
freezers' to grow at a fast pace to keep up with the demand. I am doing a paper on ‘The Uses of Adult Stem Cell Therapy and the Techniques of Storing Them’
and found your post valuable.