title: Keystone symposia - stem cells.
abstract: The Keystone Symposia stem cell conference focused on the biological nature of self-renewing cell populations that exist in special regulatory niches and form other cell types that enable maintenance of tissue function, repair and, in some cases, regeneration. Adult stem cells are present in most, if not all tissues, and their regulation as renewing populations, the nature of the niche and the factors driving decisions for differentiation in primary pathways remain the dominant interest in the field. The more vexed question concerning possible transdifferentiation of adult stem cells from one tissue type to another has become focused on the role of fusion and whether this is a recapitulation of normal processes in embryonic and adult development. The possible linkage of cancer phenotypes with stem cells and downstream progenitor cell types through loss of regulatory influences in renewal, expansion and lineage commitment is a rapidly growing interest. Pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells and their maintenance and directed differentiation into a variety of tissue types remains an optimistic field of research in which some debate exists about true pluripotency of adult stem cells. The role of epigenetic influences on differentiation and development has drawn on data from nuclear transfer studies in cloning the whole organism and in ES cell production. The formation of germ cells and their renewal and differentiation was also a major interest of the symposium.
authors.affiliation: National Stem Cell Centre and Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia. jill.mcfadyean@med.monash.edu.au
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trounson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D006801:Humans; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*