RMO 2008 Conference Schedule

Day 1 – Sunday, February 17, 2008 1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Current and Future Medical Applications in Regenerative Medicine
Note: Continuing Medical Education (CME) – 4 hours

Vance Gardner, MD "Tissue Engineering in Orthopaedics"
Dr. Vance Gardner is a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon that has been researching methods of tissue engineering to repair tears in orthopaedics. He is the Executive Director of the Orthopaedic Education and Research Institute of Southern California.

Chris Moore, MD “Tissue Transplantation for Reconstruction”
Dr. Christopher Moore, MD is a Head and Neck surgeon. He will be discussing how surgeons transplant tissue from the body for facial reconstruction and the issues involved.

Michael Rosenblatt, MD “Bone and Regenerative Medicine”
Dr. Michael Rosenblatt has recently been conducting research on the effect of growth factors to stimulate new bone formation. Dr. Rosenblatt is a Professor of Physiology and Medicine and the Dean at the Tufts University School of Medicine.

Vert Mooney, MD “How to Regenerate Physical and Metabolic Function with Exercise”
Dr. Vert Mooney is the Emeritus Professor of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He is currently the Director of the US Spine and Sport Medical Center. He is a former President of the North American Spine Society.

Thomas Serena, MD “Treatment of Diabetic Wounds: Challenges and Future Prospects”
Dr. Thomas E. Serena MD, FACS has been the lead or Principal investigator in over 20 clinical trials involved with wound healing, including testing blood platelets, topical and parenteral antibiotics and bi-layered cell therapy. Dr. Serena is the Founder and Medical Director of the Penn North Centers for Advanced Wound Care.

Jack Chen, MD “Growth Factors in Orthopaedics”
Dr Jack Chen is a subspecialty trained orthopaedic spine surgeon. His clinical practice is devoted to treating both adult and pediatric patients with spinal disorders. His interests include degenerative conditions of both the cervical and lumbar spine, including herniated discs, spinal stenosis, and spondylolisthesis.

Stephen Phillips, MD “Our Future: Geriatric Medicine”
Dr. Steven Phillips is the Director of Geriatric Care of Nevada and Medical Director at Sierra Health Services. He was the Chairman of the American Geriatrics Society Annual Program Committee.

Panel Discussion “Importance of Regenerative Medicine in Orthopaedics”
Panelists: Vert Mooney, MD; Jack Chen, MD; Michael Rosenblatt, MD; Stephen Phillips, MD Moderator: Vance Gardner, MD

Day 2 – Monday, February 18, 2008 8:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Cardiovascular Treatments and Regenerative Medicine

Thomas J. Stegmann, MD, PhD "Women and Coronary Heart Disease”
Dr. Thomas Stegmann is the Co-Founder, Co-President and Chief Medical Officer of CardioVascular BioTherapeutics, Inc. In 2007 he wrote “Holding a Woman’s Heart in My Hands” which discusses the uniqueness of heart disease in women, and how angiogenesis could be a more effective treatment. He was the former Director of the Department for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the Fulda Medical Center in Germany.

Nabil Dib, MD “Stem Cell Therapy for the Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease”
Dr. Nabil Dib was the Principal Investigator for a Phase I clinical trial in which stem cells from a patient's thigh muscle were delivered, using a catheter, to the damaged heart tissue. The Food and Drug Administration approved an expanded study involving 160 patients. Dr. Dib is also the Director of Clinical Cardiovascular Cell Therapy at the University of California, San Diego.

Lynne Wagoner, MD “Angiogenesis Protein Therapy with Human Fibroblast Growth Factor”
Dr. Lynne Wagoner was the Principal Investigator for CVBT’s Phase I Sever CHD clinical trial at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Dr. Wagoner currently practices with Greater Cincinnati Cardiovascular Consultants (GCCC) and is the Principal Investigator in twelve ongoing funded studies in heart failure.

Hal Lieberman, CEO of PhereSys Therapeutics “Aquapheresis and Congestive Heart Failure”
Hal Lieberman is the President of PhereSys Therapeutics which provides aquapheresis, a new method to safely remove fluid and salt in patients with congestive heart failure which affects 5 million patients in the U.S. and is the most expensive diagnosis in the Medicare program.

Ken Thomas, PhD “The Role of FGF’s in Stem Cell Growth and Differentiation"
Dr. Ken Thomas is credited with the discovery of Fibroblast Growth Factor 1 (FGF-1) and is one of the world’s leading experts on FGF’s. He is also the Vice President of Research and Development at CardioVascular BioTherapeutics, Inc. Previously, he was with Merck Research Laboratories for 20 years, researching therapeutic proteins.

RMO & NevBio Luncheon 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Harry Reid Biotechnology Award at the Wynn Hotel – Margaux Ballroom

Vance Gardner, MD "Ischemic Disc Disease and Regeneration of the Disc"
Dr. Vance Gardner is currently conducting a 50-patient investigational study to establish the correlation of under-perfusion of the back with disc degeneration. He has been asked to present his study at the invitation-only World Forum for Spine Research meeting in Kyoto, Japan. He is the Executive Director of the Orthopaedic Education and Research Institute of Southern California.

William Li, MD “Angiogenic Mechanisms for Tissue Repair and Regeneration”
Dr. Li is the President, Medical Director and Co-Founder of the Angiogenesis Foundation. He has extensive expertise in the field of angiogenesis and trained with Dr. Judah Folkman who pioneered the field of angiogenesis research. Dr. Li received his MD degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

David Rollo, MD, PhD “A Future Vision For Molecular Imaging”
Dr. David Rollo, MD, PhD is the President of CellPoint Corporation, formerly Chief Medical Officer with Philips Medical Systems. CellPoint is developing metabolic imaging and therapeutic targeting through intracellular chelator technology.

Jack Jacobs, PhD “New Uses for Phages”
Dr. Jack Jacobs is Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Phage Biotechnology Corporation, a manufacturer of biological pharmaceuticals. He was formerly Director of Basic Research at the Hitachi Chemical Research Center in Irvine, California.

Ernesto Abel-Santos, PhD “Inhibiting Anthrax Spore Germination”

Dr. Abel-Santos received a Ph.D. in Bioorganic Chemistry at Washington University School of Medicine. His postdoctoral work involved investigating DNA polymerase function where he developed a genetic system to produce biosynthetic cyclic peptides (SICLOPPS) to find novel antibiotic targets. He also studies on inhibitors of anthrax spore germination.

E. A. Yfantis, PhD "Non-Invasive Computer Aided Recognition of Treatment Improvements"

Dr. Yfantis is the President of Statistical and Software Analysts, Inc. and a Professor of Computer Science at UNLV, prior to that he was a Professor of Computer Science at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He will be discussing using non-invasive classification algorithms for analyzing medical images in real time and making a pathological assessment of the tissue represented by the medical images. Dr. Yfantis has developed medical image processing products for Johns Hopkins in Cardio.


Day 3 – Tuesday, February 19, 2008 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
The Molecular Basis of Regenerative Medicine

Michael Blaber, PhD “Opportunities in the Design of Second-Generation Protein Therapeutics”
Dr. Michael Blaber received a research grant from the American Heart Association to study “FGF-1 Mutants for Angiogenic Therapy.” Dr. Blaber is a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Medicine at Florida State University.

Jihun Lee, PhD “FGF Protein Engineering for Enhanced Stability”
Dr. Jihun Lee is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Blaber Lab at the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Medicine at Florida State University. Her PhD thesis was titled, “Characterization of the Effects of B-turn Sequence on Protein Stability, Folding Kinetics, Functionality and Turn Structure.”

Jordan Yelinek, Yale University “Understanding Cell Biology to Find Cures”
Jordan Yelinek is finishing his Doctorate in Cell Biology at Yale University. He is working on the Biogenesis of the Golgi apparatus in the kinetoplastid parasite Trypanosoma Brucei, the causative agent of African Sleeping Sickness.

Myung Park, PhD “Update on PEG-Protein and as a Carrier of siRNA Therapeutics”
Dr. Myung Park, PhD is the President of BiopolyMed, Inc., a biotech company that develops PEGylated proteins/peptides to improve the safety, efficacy and dosing characteristics of genes, proteins and peptides. Dr. Park received her PhD from Rutgers University on Protein Chemistry.

Ron Yasbin, PhD “Repairing and Not Repairing DNA"
Dr. Ron Yasbin is a microbial geneticist who studies DNA repair mechanisms. He is currently the Dean of the College of Sciences at UNLV. Prior to UNLV, Dr. Yasbin was Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Joseph Kaufmann, MD “Technology Cost Crisis: How Technology Costs Have Contributed to the Rising Cost of Health Care”
Dr. Joseph Kaufman is the Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs at Sierra Health Services, Inc., a managed care company selected as a "Forbes Platinum 400- Best Big Companies in America." Dr. Kaufman is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease.

Steven Zimmer “Trends in the Biotech Market”
Steven Zimmer is a Principal and Analyst with MedGrowth Associates, a leading provider of financial analysis in the UK. Mr. Zimmer has a Masters in Molecular Biology and more than 25 years experience in analysis.

David Balekdjian, The Bruckner Group, “Pricing Drugs to be Successful in the Marketplace”
David Balekdjian is a Partner with the Bruckner Group which provides strategic research for the Pharmaceutical industry.

Ralph Bradshaw, PhD “Proteins as Drugs and Diagnostics: An Update”
Dr. Ralph Bradshaw is recognized as one of the world's foremost experts on protein biochemistry. Dr. Ralph Bradshaw is currently the Deputy Director, Mass Spectrometry Facility, UCSF, San Francisco, CA and Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, UCSF, where he is researching problems in protein biology that impinge on molecular abnormalities that underlie human disease.

Chubb Insurance, Snell & Wilmer, LLP Panel “Trends in the Insurance Market for Managing the Risks from Clinical Trials to Live Products”


Cindy Palomino of Chubb Insurance and Jay J. Schuttert of Snell & Wilmer discuss the risks of clinical trials and the risks that pharmaceutical products face on the market.

End of Conference 5:00 PM