Conference to celebrate a decade of stem cell research

The Wisconsin Academy, along with UW–Madison and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), will host a free, two-day event to highlight the accomplishments of stem cell research in the state and to examine future stem cell issues.

The conference will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 18, and Wednesday, Nov. 19, in the Capitol Theater at the Overture Center for the Arts.

Speakers on the first day of the event include Gov. Jim Doyle, UW–Madison professor of law and bioethics Alta Charo, and keynote speaker James Thomson, director of Regenerative Biology and Principal Scientist at the Morgridge Institute. Wednesday speakers include former Gov. and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson (prerecorded), WARF managing director Carl Gulbrandsen, University Research Park director Mark Bugher, and keynote speaker Michael West, CEO of BioTime Inc. There will be a 3 p.m. screening each day of a groundbreaking documentary stem cell film. Producers will introduce their films — “Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita” on Nov. 18 and “The Accidental Advocate” on Nov. 19 — and take questions from the audience.

For more information, contact Jason Smith at jsmith@wisconsinacademy.org, 263-1692, ext. 21.