Blood stem cells: from beginning to end Anna Bigas 1 and Claudia Waskow 2 1 Stem Cell and Cancer research Group Institut Hospital del Mar d’Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain 2 Regeneration in Hematopoiesis. Institut for Immunology. TU Dresden, Germany ABSTRACT In June 2016, around 200 scientist from all over the world gathered at EMBL headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany to discuss the recent advances in hematopoietic stem cells from three different angles: developmental, adulthood and aging. The meeting, aptly named “Hematopoiesis: from the embryo to the aging organism” also covered cutting-edge technologies applied to this subject such as single cell analysis, reprogramming and imaging. This meeting review summarizes the exciting work that was presented and covers the main themes that emerged from the meeting. KEYWORDS Hematopoietic Stem Cells, aging, development, single cell genomics, cell fate, imaging technologies. Introduction For two full days in early June 2016, the EMBL campus at Heidelberg, a scientific hub in the heart of Europe, hosted hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) specialists from all over the world. For this exciting conference, a new generation of HSC research scientists, Karima Kissa, Christopher Lancrin, Cristina LoCelso and Catherine Robin brought together leading scientist with a common interest in HSC Biology. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the recent advances in understanding how HSC biology changes through time: from the early decisions that define HSC emergence in the embryo to the effects of aging on HSC maintenance and integrity. The program of the meeting was carefully shaped to cover key aspects of HSC generation, homeostasis, aging and disease. A special emphasis was put on new technologies such as single cell genomics and advanced imaging techniques. It was the use and development of these new technologies to answer old questions that brought the most exciting discussions and new ideas to the meeting. In this Meeting review, we will summarise the main themes that emerged from the various presentations and discussions, and consider where this field is headed in the years to come.