Last week the Nobel Foundation awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka for their discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent, immature stem cells capable of developing into any type of cell in the body. Their discoveries have changed scientific understanding of cellular development and specialization, showing that cells are not restricted to unidirectiona development but rather capable of being reprogrammed to an earlier, undifferentiated state.

In honor of this announcement, the Academy here offers a listing of upcoming events and scientific resources dedicated to the advancement and broader understanding of the field of stem cell biology.

	Event Stem Cells, Small Molecules and Therapeutics Wednesday, November 14, 2012 | 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM The intersection of small molecules and stem cells, the latter of which has become increasingly important to the research of and development of therapeutic applications for degenerative diseases. SOLD OUT.
	Event Metabolic Determinants of Stem Cell Pluripotency and Cell Fate Commitments February 2013 Fate and function determine stem cells’ metabolic needs. Does fate dictate metabolic activity, or do metabolic switches trigger a commitment to cell fate? We present the latest on stem cell metabolism v. lineage commitment, and future therapies. Registration to open soon; please check Upcoming Events.
	Event The Bone Marrow Niche, Stem Cells, and Leukemia: Impact of Drugs, Chemicals, and the Environment May 29 – May 31, 2013 This 2.5-day conference explores toxicology and hematology together to better understand, prevent, and treat myeloid neoplasms. Topics include the maturation and differentiation of healthy and leukemogenic hematopoietic stem cells.
	eBriefing Patient-Specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells for the Study of Neurological Diseases Patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells recapitulate the specific neuronal defect in the individual from which they are derived, holding enormous potential for studying human development and disease, creating new systems to identify promising drugs, and generating customized replacement cells that can be used as therapies directly.
	eBriefing How Do Pluripotent Cells Enable Drug Discovery? Conducting drug discovery experiments in stem cells could allow researchers to understand how drug candidates interact with the entire cell rather than only with individual components. The use of mouse embryonic stem cell-derived neurons to screen chemical libraries for small molecules that bind glutamate receptors in the brain and possible reasons for the low efficiency of deriving induced pluripotent stem cells are discussed.
	eBriefing Regenerative Medicine: Stem Cell and Transplantation Research The advantages and disadvantages of stem cell usage to replace diseased or damaged cells and tissues, including the risk of tumorigenesis.
	eBriefing Profiles in Pluripotence: Systems Biology of Stem Cells Explorations of the biochemical interactions that reinforce developmental pluripotence or differentiation, and how systems biology techniques help illuminate these interactions.
	eBriefing Neural Stem Cells: From Development to Function Research in the neural stem cell field, including symmetric versus asymmetric stem cell division, differentiation in specialized cells that form the components of the mature nervous system, and the functions of neurogenesis in adult organisms.
	Annals Hematopoietic Stem Cells VIII Stemming from the eighth international symposium and workshop entitled “Hematopoietic Stem Cells VIII” held and hosted by the University of Tübingen, Germany, this volume focuses on state-of-the-art advances in the field of hematopoietic stem cells.
	Annals Stem Cell Biology: Development and Plasticity Free online meeting report provided by Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences exploring the factors that regulate the biology of stem cells.

About the New York Academy of Sciences
The New York Academy of Sciences is an independent, not-for-profit organization that since 1817 has been committed to advancing science, technology, and society worldwide. With 25,000 members in 140 countries, the Academy is creating a global community of science for the benefit of humanity. The Academy's core mission is to advance scientific knowledge, positively impact the major global challenges of society with science-based solutions, and increase the number of scientifically informed individuals in society at large. Please visit us online at www.nyas.org.