Fifth Annual ISHAGE Meeting — Oslo 1999

As the incoming President of ISHAGE, I would like to welcome you all to this fifth Annual Meeting of the Society. With an international membership of over 1100, the Society has expanded far faster than initially predicted. This means we are fortunately well-placed to face the remarkable challenges and opportunities that now face us. For example, scientific developments over the past 2 years mean that we may need to rethink and expand many of our clinical practices. The discovery that cells capable of reconstituting the hemopoietic system may in fact be CD34þ, brings into question the wisdom of pursuing ever more purified populations of CD34þ cells for transplantation whilst the increasing realization of the value and transplantability of mesenchymal stem cells affords the opportunity to treat a whole new range of disorders using engineered grafts. Indeed, the extraordinary plasticity of stem cells indicates that the BM could be a source of cells capable of treating diseases previously considered far from the realm of ‘hematotherapy’. Moreover, as gene-therapy slowly struggles to fruition and we develop more effective vectors for stem-cell transduction, and introduce effective gene-regulatory elements, we can begin to see how the combination of cellular and genetic manipulation can lead to novel therapeutics for almost any ailment. I am not suggesting that cellular therapies will come to entirely supplant small molecules for disease treatment, but I believe that the next 20 years will produce an extraordinary increase in the range of diseases we can treat and a substantial change in the focus of hospital-based therapies for serious illness. But before we can reach this ISHAGE vision of Nirvana, we have to overcome many critical practical issues. Some of the current applications of stem-cell transplantation may well be shown to be ineffective. This may lead to a temporary reduction in funding from all sources for the research and development crucial to the next phase of cellular therapies. The society will need to play an increasingly active role in ensuring that any funding reduction is minimal and that the vast and expanding potential of cellular therapies is emphasized appropriately and effectively. This may be particularly important in North America, where the impact of managed care on our ability to perform experimental protocols is likely to become increasingly apparent. In addition, as the complexity of cellular processing increases, regulatory oversight will become ever more conspicuous. Here too, the society and its members can play a critical role in ensuring that such oversight is effective, without becoming so burdensome that all innovation is stifled. Many of these issues will be discussed at this conference, in plenary sessions, workshops and posters. In these critical early years for the Society and its members, I believe that meetings like this will have a major influence on the future success and practice of our new specialty. This is a heavy and portentous historical burden, so it is fortunate that we are being forced to bear it in Oslo, in midsummer, with the help of an excellent social program! My thanks to Gunnar Kvalheim, Moya Berli and the other meeting organizers for all their hard work and devotion, and my best wishes to everyone for a most productive and enjoyable conference. Cytotherapy (1999) Vol. 1, No. 3, 163