The New Organ Prize is an initiative of the Methuselah Foundation, and has been under development for a little while - an open beta for trying out crowdfunding strategies, building alliances, and so forth. This is an evolution of the organization's experience with research prizes and their use in spurring a scientific community to achieve greater and more rapid progress. The Foundation's past work on the Mprize for longevity science, and associated networking behind the scenes, helped to speed the transformation of aging research from a field in which any public discussion of life extension was likely to be career-threatening into a community that now embraces the quest for longer healthy lives. Much of the publicity for longevity science that you see today would never have happened even as recently as a decade ago, as back then researchers were much more circumspect and funding sources much more conservative.
The New Organ Prize exists in a different, more liberated, and openly ambitious scientific environment and has a different aim: to accelerate the development of whole organ tissue engineering, creating functional long-lasting organs just as good as the natural variety, built from a patient's own cells, and to make this happen far sooner than it otherwise would. The Methuselah Foundation staff have already built a range of important alliances, such as with tissue printing company Organovo, and the arrangement outlined in the announcement that I found in my in-box today:
We're thrilled to announce that Methuselah has now secured an official launch date and partner for the New Organ Prize - the World Stem Cell Summit (WSCS), taking place in San Diego, CA on December 4-6, 2013. As the premier annual forum for regenerative medicine, there's no better place than WSCS to unveil New Organ to the scientific community and the world. And we'd love for you to join us.WSCS and Methuselah Foundation aspire to build an enduring partnership that will contribute to the realization of whole organ engineering, preservation, and regeneration for the benefit of millions. With attendees from more than 40 countries, the Summit's interdisciplinary agenda for the global stem cell community explores everything from disease updates and new research directions to cell standardization, regulatory pathways, and economic development.
This year, New Organ will be an integral part of WSCS. During this three-and-a-half day event that includes a variety of speaker presentations, ongoing exhibitions, small group events, and social opportunities, WSCS chairman Bernie Siegel will join Methuselah CEO Dave Gobel on stage in a joint announcement celebrating the official launch of the New Organ Prize.
Our whole team will be there ... and we wouldn't be here without you. Just like the leaders of the World Stem Cell Summit, you're committed to New Organ's success, and we'd be honored to mark this milestone together. To learn more about WSCS and register, visit www.worldstemcellsummit.com.
Thanks again for your ongoing support. Here's to the upcoming launch of New Organ!
View the full article at FightAging
