Stem cells and their awareness of future self what do they need to make bodies and organs in a dish?

March 28, 2017Byens Lys Copenhagen
Stem cells robins choice
Doors open: 19:00
Start programme: 20:00
Byens Lys
Fabriksområdet 99
Copenhagen

Stem cells can give rise to any cell in the body. What makes these cells special? How can we control them to generate the desired specialized cells? What can they do on their own and what do we need to provide them with to get them make the cells that can cure debilitating disease? Ultimately they hold the promise for curing debilitating, degenerative diseases such as Parkinsons and Diabetes, but how far are we from generating the cells that could be used to replace damaged tissue? Can we actually use them to generate organs?

Embryonic stem cells are derived from human embryos giving rise to a number of contentious ethical issues. However, these initial moral considerations have now been overshadowed by ever expanding expectations as to what these cells can do. Stem cells have been presented as a therapeutic panacea, are used as commercial argument to sell beauty creams, have been touted as an animal free source of meat, and as a means to encourage dangerous medical tourism. What can really be achieved with stem cells?

Anne Grapin-Botton and Josh Brickman will discuss where we stand with stem cells and their likely application. Can they be used to generate to generate organs, or even embryos, in a dish? They will show how the scientific conception of stem cells is changing from a cell type to a transient state and how this could inform the public debate on the ethics and applications for these incredible cells.

Afterwards, no stem cells in the cocktails but still as delicious as ever, while Nulle and Jakob Munck will play music for humankind.

Stem Cells

Anne Grapin-Botton & Joshua Brickman

Stem cells and their awareness of future self what do they need to make bodies and organs in a dish?

Stem cells can give rise to any cell in the body. What makes these cells special? How can we control them to generate the desired specialized cells? What can they do on their own and what do we need to provide them with to get them make the cells that can cure debilitating disease? Ultimately they hold the promise for curing debilitating, degenerative diseases such as Parkinsons and Diabetes, but how far are we from generating the cells that could be used to replace damaged tissue? Can we actually use them to generate organs?

Talk by

Anne Grapin-Botton

Stem cell biologist and professor at the Danish Stem Cell Center at University of Copenhagen. Previously she was professor at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Together with Joshua Brickman and physicists at the Niels Bohr Institute, she founded the Center of Excellence StemPhys. She is interested in understanding how stem cells can generate complex structures such as organs like the pancreas.

Original

Talk by

Joshua Brickman

Stem cell biologist and professor at the Danish Stem Cell Center at University of Copenhagen. Previously he was professor at University of Edinburgh. Together with Anne Grapin-Botton and physicists at the Niels Bohr Institute, he founded the Center of Excellence StemPhys. He is interested in understanding how stem cells can generate complex structures and patters starting with embryonic cells and early embryos.

Josh

Music by

Nulle and Jakob Munck

With the clarinet and tuba, traveling gramophone and field recordings, fantasy and cassette, omnichords and charts, and not least cocktails and stem cells in the mix, Nulle and Jakob Munck play music for humankind.

Munck Nulle