SAN FRANCISCO – On February 7, 2006, more than 30 panelists from the world’s leading centers for biotechnology will speak in San Francisco at the “International Symposium on Stem Cell Collaboration: Laying the Groundwork for the Commercialization of Stem Cell Research.”

The one-day conference is designed to develop strategies and collaborative teams that will help take stem cell research from the laboratory to the patient. It is expected to draw several hundred attendees to the state-of-the-art University of California at San Francisco Mission Bay Conference Center. It features a welcoming address by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and a lunchtime address by Susan Bryant, the Dean of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Bryant was involved in California’s Proposition 71, the recently passed bond measure that will support stem cell research.

The event’s speakers hail from academia, charitable foundations, the biotechnology industry, the investment, nonprofit and business communities and government. Sponsors include the State of California’s Commerce & Economic Development Program, the City and County of San Francisco, the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, DNA Bridges Inc., the Consulate of Canada, the British Consulate, Invest Australia and the Women’s Technology Cluster, a nonprofit accelerator for women-led biotechnology and high-technology start-ups.

The symposium will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A reception will follow. For more information, a full list of speakers and registration information, please visit http://www.wtc-sf.org/stemcell.htm.

For more information, contact Ana Pedros at the Women’s Technology Cluster, at (415) 421-5500 or ana@wtc-sf.org.