Wrap-up of the Early Career Researcher program at 2017 joint scientific meeting of ASSCR and the Australasian Gene and Cell Therapy Society
Thirty bright, young stem cell scientists—10 early-career researchers and 20 PhD students—shared their research on genes, stem cells, organoids and more at Australia’s premier stem cell scientific meeting held in Sydney in May 2017.
The early career researchers—whose places were supported by the NSCFA —brought youthful energy and expertise from a wide range of research interests including chemosensitisation to make leukaemia treatment more effective; using stem cells to understand neonatal brain damage; the role of certain genes in the development of the germ cells; and gene correction of mutations in kidney organoids grown from stem cells derived from other cells from patients.
The program’s awards winners for 2017 were:
- Top oral presentation (PhD student) – Thomas Forbes, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
- Top oral presentation (early-career researcher) – Benjamin Cao, CSIRO
- Top poster presentation (PhD student) – Ana Rita Leitoguinho, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
- Top poster presentation (early-career researcher) - Brett Kagan, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.
Continuing last year’s collaborative approach, the conference was a special joint scientific meeting of the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research (ASSCR) and the Australasian Gene and Cell Therapy Society.
The early career researchers joined their senior colleagues to hear presentations on a range of cutting-edge research areas including the clinical translation of cell and gene therapies, regenerative medicine and bioengineering, gene editing, disease modelling, and drug screening.
