The linkurl:California stem cell policy and advocacy juggernaut;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23097/ was in full steam this weekend at Stanford University. The two-day linkurl:Stem Cell Policy and Advocacy Summit II: Empowering the Pro-Cures Coalition;http://www.pro-cures.com offered a banquet of the usual servings, including scientific updates, discussions of linkurl:ethics;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/23251/ and legal issues, and how-to primers on grassroots advocacy.

This one day conference focused on the interface between academic research and the commercialization of the fruits of stem cell research. The San Francisco-based linkurl:Women?s Technology Cluster;http://www.wtc-sf.org/ , whose mission is ?to increase the number of successful women-led companies in the life science, high technology, and clean technology sectors and to leverage their influence,? was the organizing sponsor. They apparently sponsor over thirty events a year to promote that mission.