BAR HARBOR – Scientists interested in stem cell research are convening today and Saturday on Mount Desert Island for the fifth consecutive year, according to organizers.

The stem cell symposium being held at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory in Salisbury Cove is sponsored by the lab and by The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor’s famed mouse research institution.

Jeri Bowers, spokeswoman for Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, said Wednesday that about 90 researchers and students are expected to attend the event, some from as far away as Germany and Japan. The purpose of the symposium, she said, is to promote the exchange of new ideas in the field of stem cell research.

“There are a handful of scientists in the United States who are considered experts in this field and they will be here,” Bowers said.

Among the speakers at the event will be Dr. John Gearhart, a pioneer of stem cell research and director of research at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine. Gearhart will give a lecture titled “Who Turned Out the Enlightenment?” at 7 tonight at the lab’s Maren Auditorium, according to Bowers. Gearhart’s address will be the only event open to the public during the two-day symposium.

Other sessions will focus on stem cell genetics, stem cell embryonics, neural stem cells, differentiation and patterning, and hematology, according to Bowers. The symposium immediately follows another stem cell research workshop being held this week at Jackson Laboratory.

More information on the symposium is available at the bio lab’s Web site: www.mdibl.org.