These symposia are organised by Cell press (i.e. the Cell journals) by the editors of the Cell journals on topics that are transforming science and medicine. Professor Hans Clevers, Netherlands, who pioneered the adult stem cell derived organoid field, was a co-organiser and keynote speaker at the symposium. The Clevers lab were the first to establish organoids from adult tissue-restricted stem cells, and then the first to establish organoids from patient derived normal and diseased human tissues, including cancer. These advances are transforming the stem cell, cancer and other diseases, and regenerative medicine fields. The Clevers lab was able to do this because they discovered Lgr5 as a s
Prof Elizabeth Vincan, Laboratory Head, Doherty Institute, was an invited speaker at the 'Gordon Research Conference Wnt Signalling Networks in Development, Diseases and Regeneration' in Vermont USA. Professor Vincan is a pioneer in the Wnt signalling area of research, here are her insights from the meeting. Wnt signaling is a highly conserved developmental signaling pathway with pivotal roles in the origin and evolution of all metazoans. Recently published work from the my group provides genetic and pharmacological proof that blocking Frizzled7, a Wnt growth factor receptor, inhibits tumour initiation and growth. The ability to inhibit cancer by targeting the Wnt pathway from outside the c
