TÜBA-Stem Cell Policies Workshop has been organized
The National Stem Cell Policies Workshop has been organized by Turkey Sciences Academy (TÜBA) at Kayseri Erciyes University ERÜ Genkök Genome and Stem Cell Center with the attendance of more than 30 foundations and 90 attendees.
The workshop which had it's opening ceremony at Sabancı Kültür Sitesi had the goal of gathering attention to the stem cell studies and their strategic importance, and was attended by TÜBA Stem Cell Study Group Co manager Prof. Dr. Bülent ZÜLFİKAR, Erciyes University Rector Prof. Dr. H. Fahrettin Keleştemur, TÜBİTAK Vice President Assoc. Dr. Necati Demir, Turkey Sciences Academy President Prof. Dr. Ahmet Cevat Acar, Ministry of Health Advisor Prof. Dr. Nihat Tosun and many more.
In his opening speech TÜBA President Prof. Dr. Ahmet Cevat Acar mentioned: “One of the more important missions of TÜBA consisted of scientific based advisory; the other goal is to being able to come up with national stem cell policies with the opinions of attendees, and then publish the reports to public opinion. Ministry of Health Advisor Prof. Dr. Nihat Tosun said the following: “There are two reasons for me to attend this workshop; I see the studies TÜBA has done up until now as a strong ground to rise from, a strong rooting for their future studies. TÜBA, with its goals and content, excites us. It truly is an academy for academic life. The second reason is that ERÜ, as a university, has activated public and private sectors along with other sources. This is important for our universities to not shut themselves from the outside world. Stem cell is a field that shows great promise and still has many unknowns. For this reason I believe this workshop will be definitive for strategies and policy making.''
9 different workshop worktables have been established
The scientific program has continued with 9 different worktables in 9 different halls of ERÜ Genkök Genome and Stem Cell Center which consisted of; Cellular Therapies: Pluripotent Stem Cells for Cellular Therapy: Adult Stem Cells, Regenerative Medicine and Cellular Immunotherapy in Stem Cell Study Rules and Regulations, Ethical Practices and Regulations, Coordination with TÜBA at TÜBİTAK and Ministry of Health Projects, National Tissue Information Bank and Cord Blood Bank, Education and Stem Cell Centers (R&D-GMP), The Foundation of Perfection Centers and Their Shared Usage.
The creation of ''National Stem Cell Policies Workshop Report'' at the 28th of December has been discussed in the light of reports from the worktables. Afterwards, in a press conference, TÜBA President Prof. Dr. Acar said: "Turkey is a formidable force locally in the field of healthcare. There are serious researches about Stem cells, but as the Workshop suggest, we have much to do.'' The comanager of the Workshop Prof. Dr. Bülent ZÜLFİKAR said: "It is made clear with this workshop that stem cell research is not only important for genetic science fields or blood disease, but it rather interests neurology, cardiology, orthopedics and psychiatry as well. We also decided that stem cell research standards must rise and the effective quality control must be paid close attention. On the other hand it's also decided that the Ministry of Health, TÜBİTAK, YÖK and TÜBA must continue to cooperate with such studies. Another decision was to increase the number of stem cell donors, effectively to 1 million before the next year ends to satisfy the needs of the public, and for that reason to make it easier to become a voluntary stem cell donor.''
Prof. Dr. Zülfikar also noted that the reports that include workshop results and suggestions will be edited by TÜBA and will be published with peers, relevant foundations and public opinion.
