Ep. 285: “Funding the Future” Featuring Dr. Jonathan Thomas
Guest:
Dr. Jonathan Thomas "JT" is the President and CEO of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), an organization that provides funding for stem cell research with the purpose of accelerating treatments for patients in need. He talks about working to ensure diversity in clinical trials and developing treatments that are affordable and accessible to patients. He also discusses the progress during the twenty years since CIRM's inception, training the next generation of scientists, and balancing support for basic and clinical research. (41:03)
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Cell Quality Attributes of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells
The Stem Cell Science Round Up
Regulating Naive Pluripotency – Scientists used a targeted rapid protein degradation system to show that GABPA is a master pluripotency regulator. (1:36)
Skin Wound Healing – A spatiotemporal atlas of human skin wound tissues identifies FOSL1 as a critical driver of re-epithelialization. (11:50)
Bone Marrow Stem Cell Niches – The bone marrow niche orchestrates hierarchy in stem cells and immune tolerance. (20:49)
Synthetic Organizer Cells – Synthetic organizer cells self-assemble around stem cells and produce morphogens. (30:50)
Image courtesy of Dr. Jonathan Thomas
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1:31:54
Ep. 284: “Organ Chip Engineering” Featuring Dr. Milica Radisic
Dr. Milica Radisic is a Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Toronto. Her lab uses organ-on-a-chip engineering to mimic physiology of the heart, kidney, and vasculature for the purpose of modeling human disease and discovering more effective drugs. In this episode, she talks about the challenges of studying the heart and strategies to mature cardiomyocytes. She also discusses using macrophages to vascularize heart-on-a-chip platforms and enhance cardiac tissue function, sustainability considerations for microfluidic chips, and how these disease models can reduce the use of lab animals. Finally, she talks about starting a company to commercialize her lab's cardiac chip platform, the landscape for women entrepreneurs, and advice from her mentor, Dr. Bob Langer.
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1:22:25
Ep. 283: “Molecular Hematopoiesis” Featuring Dr. Cynthia Dunbar
Dr. Cynthia "Cindy" Dunbar is National Institutes of Health (NIH) Distinguished Investigator and Chief of the Translational Stem Cell Biology Branch at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the NIH. She talks about using macaques to study hematopoiesis and aging, and the challenges and considerations for using these models. She also discusses her collaborative study transplanting iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes into rhesus macaques, as well as the NIH's unique research environment and her musical talents outside of the lab.
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1:30:28
Ep. 282: “Whole-Body Regeneration” Featuring Dr. Mansi Srivastava
Dr. Mansi Srivastava is Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. Her lab uses distantly related species to study evolution and regeneration. She talks about establishing Hofstenia miamia, or the three-banded panther worm, as a model system. She also discusses her lab's work on adult stem cell lineage tracing and whole-body regeneration in Hofstenia, as well as her scientific outreach efforts.
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1:34:24
Ep. 281: “Fertility Treatments” Featuring Drs. Dina Radenkovic and Bruna Paulsen
Drs. Dina Radenkovic and Bruna Paulsen are Co-Founder & CEO and VP of Manufacturing and Therapeutic development at Gameto, a biotech company developing treatment solutions to improve women's reproductive health. Their lead platform, Fertilo, uses ovarian support cells to mature oocytes outside of the body with the goal of making IVF and egg freezing shorter, safer, and more effective.
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