Past Meetings and Conferences

Together Again: 2021 SCRMC Fall Conference Returns Researchers To Dynamic In-Person Event

On Oct. 7, 2021, nearly 80 undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and faculty gathered at Union South for theStem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Center (SCRMC) Fall Conference, the organization’s first in-person conference since the outbreak of COVID last year.

Traditionally planned by SCRMC fellows, the conference provides a yearly opportunity for students and researchers in the stem-cell field to share their work through oral presentations and poster abstracts―and the big attraction, to hear keynote addresses from world-renowned researchers.

“Hopefully, everyone at every level learned something,” says Carissa Sirois of Connecticut, a post-doc on the planning committee who works at the Waisman Center studying Fragile X Syndrome, one of the most common genetic forms of autism. Sirois aspires to be a staff scientist someday and continue to use stem cells to make brain cells, and to study neurodevelopmental disorders.

Spearheading the conference were two renowned keynote speakers―Dr. Sandra Pinho, assistant professor of pharmacology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Dr. Sergei Doulatov, associate professor of hematology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Sirois said the planning committee chose these guest speakers because of their complementary expertise in hematopoietic stem cell research.

“Also, we thought that newer faculty―who were postdocs and grad students not too long ago themselves―would have a great perspective and offer some helpful advice on how to start a lab and to navigate the transition to becoming a faculty member,” explains Sirois.

Approximately 30 students also had the opportunity to present their research at the poster fair and blitz talk sessions. Jack Maher, a 20-year-old junior in biomedical engineering, shared a poster outlining his research on “human embryonic stem cell-derived neural tissue morphology.” The Muskego, Wisconsin native says he has been interested in biomedical engineering since he was 12. “I want to combine my interest in medicine and healthcare with my natural, longtime love of engineering, so I am pursuing an MD-PhD in the clinical translation of regenerative medicine, specifically in neurology or rheumatology.”

Sarah Boutom of New Jersey is equally ambitious. A graduate student in the MD-PhD program, she aspires to be a physician scientist, dividing her time between research and clinical medicine, with a sub-specialty in anesthesiology. Boutom’s poster focused on the vascular endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier. “I believe my basic research as a graduate student can contribute toward a better understanding of various neurovascular diseases.”

SCRMC Director Tim Kamp applauds the success of the event, saying, “The SCRMC training award recipients deserve credit for organizing a fantastic, in-person scientific conference. Two engaging, early-career investigators presented outstanding science on blood-cell development and provided insights into the mysterious transition from trainee to faculty.” Kamp adds that the presentations and blitz talks highlighted the depth of impactful stem cell and regenerative medicine research on campus.

The 2021 SCRMC Fall Conference was sponsored by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), WiCell, Nikon and the Morgridge Institute.

Winning Photo from 2021 Fall Conference

The votes are in and the image that takes the prize for “Best Photo of the 2021 Fall Conference” is featured above. The photo was submitted by Miranda Sun from the Rob Lipinski Lab. The image was captured on a Keyence BZ-X700 fluorescent microscope with a 20X objective.

Miranda describes what we are seeing: “A 50-micrometer section of an 11-day-old mouse embryo head was stained for PECAM1 (green), laminin (red), and nuclei (blue) to delineate the blood vessels. The heart-shaped structure is the developing brain while the two vertical slits below will become the nostrils.”

Congratulations, Miranda!