Our toolkit of downloadable stem cell resources and activities has been growing so fast it's getting hard to keep up with all the new additions. We launched with just five tools, but that number has since grown to 13 tools for teaching and talking about stem cells, in the classroom, science centre, open day, festival and other educational settings. 

We've had great feedback from teachers and others from around Europe:

“[The] toolkit web page ... is very easy to use. Everything appeals to me: not only the “surface”, icons and links, but also the contents are very useful and interesting.” Teacher, Italy

There's a new addition to the line-up of flags on our website. Try clicking this red and white flag of Poland to see stem cell fact sheets, FAQ, films and even the Hope Beyond Hype graphic story, in Polish. We're excited to be making stem cell information accessible to the world's 40 million Polish speakers.

Last month - two years since this EuroStemCell project kicked off - we brought partners, funders and advisory board members together to take stock of the project. At the 2 day meeting, hosted by our partner CRG in Barcelona (pictured left), we explored 3 questions:

1. what have we achieved so far?
2. what have we learned?
3. what should our priorities be for the next two years, and beyond?

Last week we used Twitter to post a series of fascinating facts and 'test your knowledge' questions about stem cells, using the hashtag #stemcellfacts. The tweets covered a lot of ground, from embryonic stem cells and blastocysts to skin stem cells, gut stem cells, heart cells and regeneration.

Embyronic stem cells are often in the news, but it can be hard to get to the bottom of what is really going on in research. We thought it was time to tackle this problem so we've set up a one-stop spot for the latest on embryonic stem cell research: www.eurostemcell.org/embryonic-stem-cells

Our translators have been busy, and our website is now available in Italian. Newly translated FAQ, Factsheets and Toolkit resources include the highlights listed below.

If Italian's not your language, now is the time to have your say. We're prioritizing other languages for translation, and would like your input. Take a moment to complete our translation poll and tell us which new language you would most like to see content in.

Osteoarthritis researchers at REMEDI (Regenerative Medicine Institute) at the National University of Ireland Galway are part of a new European project which is looking to incorporate the views of patients and the general public at the earliest stages of research.

As part of the EU-funded GAMBA (Gene Activated Matrices for Bone and Cartilage Regeneration in Arthritis) project, REMEDI is looking for osteoarthritis patients who would like to learn about new therapy approaches and are willing to evaluate theses approaches from a patient’s point of view. The patients should be residents in Galway, be at least 18 years old and available for four days in March 2012. The views of the general public will be sought in early summer.

We're now multilingual!  Or tri-lingual, at least.

This website is now available in 2 additional languages, German and French, with Italian and Spanish coming soon. Just click on the flag icons to the right of this page to give the newly translated interface a whirl.

Andrew Smith has been tweeting over at @euro_dayinsci from this week's NeuroStemcell workshop on Stem cell therapy for neurological diseases: translation to the clinic.  He'll be tweeting again tomorrow, and even if you're not on Twitter it's worth checking out his updates for an overview of what's being discussed - some fascinating topics!

We've copied some of Andrew's tweets from today's sessions below.  Visit and follow @euro_dayinsci for more...

The EuroStemCell project’s been running for just over a year now, building Europe's stem cell hub:  a web platform for information, education and conversation about stem cell research and regenerative medicine in Europe.   We’ve still got lots more in the pipeline, but we’ve also already achieved a lot and thought it would be good to take stock as we head into Year 2.

This website is the main outlet for our activities.  We've restructured our menus and refreshed our homepage to accommodate lots of new strands of content, all aimed at making reliable, independent information and road-tested educational resources on stem cells and their impact on society available to all.