Intel ISEF 2017: STEM Students from 75 Countries to Learn about Cord Blood from STCF & StemCyte

Intel ISEF 2017: STEM Students from 75 Countries to Learn about Cord Blood from STCF & StemCyte

​Recognized as the world’s largest international pre-collegiate science competition, Intel ISEF is sometimes referred to as the “Olympics of Science Fairs” welcoming the brightest STEM students from more than 75 different countries.  This year Save the Cord Foundation is proud to announce that we will be there!! Together with our friends at StemCyte, Inc., we will be bringing cord blood education to the Next Generation of scientists, doctors, nurses and community leaders via this prestigious event.

Each year, millions of students compete worldwide in local and school-sponsored science fairs for an opportunity to showcase their independent research and compete for approximately $4 million in prizes at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF 2017), a program of Society for Science & the Public. Visit the official site here.
Nearly 5000 students, their teachers and mentors from more than 75 different countries attend this event annually. The research presented by students is of the highest calibre.  For example, last year’s Gordon E. Moore Award winner was Han Jie (Austin) Wang, an 18-year-old from Canada who broke new ground with his research: Boosting MFC Biocatalyst Performance: A Novel Gene Identification and Consortia Engineering Approach.

​Intel ISEF 2017 at the Los Angeles Convention Center:  May 14-19th, 2017
Schools and the general public are welcome on “Intel ISEF Public Day” on May 18th, 2017

Learn more. Register to attend Intel ISEF 2017.

Despite decades of use in the treatment of 80+ diseases in more than 35,000 transplants worldwide, the topic of sourcing stem cells from cord blood has never been formally presented at Intel ISEF. Thus, Intel ISEF 2017 presents a unique opportunity for our team to break new ground by introducing this topic tomorrow’s leading scientists, doctors and community leaders.  Together, StemCyte, Inc. and Save the Cord Foundation will form a dynamic team whose goal will be to increase cord blood awareness and spark an interest in cord blood research by these outstanding STEM students.

During the course of this multi-day event, our team will be welcoming students, their teachers and representatives from countries around the world to engage in a variety of interactive demonstrations regarding the collection of cord blood, the preservation process, testing and eventual use of these valuable, non-controversial stem cells. In addition, the team will be hosting a symposium dedicated to cord blood featuring one of the world’s outstanding neuroscientist, Dr. Wise Young, M.D., Ph.D.. Dr. Young is the Global Medical Director for StemCyte, Inc., Distinguished Professor, founding director of the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience.

During the symposium, Dr. Young will speak about cord blood’s critical role in regenerative medicine and potential treatments using cord blood for spinal cord injuries.  An engaging speaker and pioneer in the field, Dr. Young will speak to students about ground-breaking clinical trials he is leading across China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and as well as those more recently the United States, Norway and India. Dr. Young will also discuss the growing need for cord blood globally with regards to current applications and potential developments in the medical world that could stimulate a sudden increase in demand.

​Students who attend Intel ISEF will be encouraged to participate in the NEXT GENERATION: Cord Blood program and to share this program with others in their communities when they return home. Students will have the opportunity to register for a free NEXT GENERATION account and newsletter focused exclusively on cord blood.

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A word about our partner for this special event. . .

StemCyte, Inc. is a hybrid cord blood bank (providing both public and private cord blood banking) with locations in the US, India and Taiwan.  As one of the largest and most racially diverse cord blood stem cell banks in the world, StemCyte is actively involved in the development of new umbilical cord blood-based cell therapies. The Company supports the largest clinical study for using unrelated cord blood transplantation for thalassemia, one of the most common genetic diseases in the world, and the developments of trials investigating regenerative spinal cord therapies. To learn more visit StemCyte’s official site.

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We wish to thank StemCyte,Inc. for their generous support.

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Photo credits:

​Top photo: Nathan Han, of Boston, Massachusetts, who won the Intel ISEF 2014 Gordon E. Moore Award, celebrated with the finalists from Massachusetts (Chris Ayers Photography/Society for Science & the Public)
Middle photo: Preparations behind-the-scenes for Intel ISEF (April Rietze Photography/Society for Science & the Public)
Bottom photo: Dr. Wise Young (Rutgers University/W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience)