Culturing a Stem Cell Community
2017 SPEAKERS
Dr. Sarah Knox, UCSF
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell & Tissue Biology
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It takes nerve! How peripheral nerves regulate development and regeneration
Dr. Sarah Knox is an assistant professor in the Department of Cell and Tissue Biology at UCSF. The Knox lab explores the role of nerve-epithelial communication in the development, aging, and regeneration of organs. Our work primarily utilizes the mouse and human fetal and adult exocrine organs to explore the effects of autonomic nerves on tissue morphogenesis, lineage determination and stem cell mediated regeneration. These projects explore the relationship between neuronal signals and progenitor/stem cells and cell lineages during development, homeostasis and after radiation/immune-induced damage with the expectation that our discoveries will lead to new therapies for patients suffering organ dysfunction.
Opening Keynote
Dr. Andrew Ho, Stanford University
Senior Scientist, Blau Lab
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Impact of mechanosensing on stem cell biology and muscle regeneration
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Andrew is a senior research scientist in the Blau laboratory at Stanford University. His research interests focus on understanding the impact of the cellular microenvironment and niche factors on Muscle stem cell potential. After receiving his PhD degree from University of Toronto, Canada, he was awarded an EMBO fellowship to join the laboratory of Dr. Frederic Relaix as postdoctoral fellow in Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris VI, France to study the interplay between extrinsic biochemical cues and intrinsic signaling pathways that control muscle cell fate in development. He joined the Blau laboratory at Stanford University in 2011 as a research fellow supported by a career development grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association and was promoted to Senior Research Scientist in 2013. Currently, he is investigating the potential of inflammatory signals in muscle stem cell niche to overcome the decline in aged muscle stem cell regenerative function.
Dr. Bruce R. Conklin, Gladstone Institutes, UCSF
Senior Investigator & Professor
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Precise Genome Engineering in Human iPS Cells to Model and Treat Disease
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Dr. Bruce Conklin is a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes and a Professor at UCSF in Medicine, Ophthalmology and Pharmacology. His research focuses on using genome engineering to identify therapeutic approaches to human disease. Dr. Conklin’s research training began by working with Julius Axelrod, Ph.D., (Nobel Laureate) at NIH, and later with Henry Bourne, M.D. at UCSF. He also completed his clinical training in Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Conklin is the founder of several public stem cell and genomics projects including BayGenomics, GenMAPP, AltAnalyze and WikiPathways. Dr. Conklin pioneered the field of using designer G protein coupled receptors (RASSLs) for tissue engineering. He was the founding director of the Gladstone Genomics Core and the Gladstone Stem Cell Core. Dr. Conklin is also the Deputy Director of the Innovative Genomics Institute, focusing on Biomedical applications of CRISPR technology.
Closing Keynote
Dr. Robert Tijan, UCB
Principal Investigator & Professor, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology
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Tracking the Dynamics of Transcription Factors in Living Cells
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Dr. Robert Tjian, Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology since 1979, recently also served as President of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 2009-2016.
Trained as a biochemist at Cal and Harvard, he was a pioneer in studying how genetic information in our DNA is decoded to produce mRNA and proteins. During nearly 4 decades on the faculty at Cal, he taught 1000’s of undergrads while doing biomedical discovery research. He has received many scientific awards including election to the National Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society, was California Scientist of the Year and he has been an HHMI investigator since 1987. He also founded Tularik, Inc. and launched several biotech companies as part of a venture capital firm called TCG.
Dr. Geoffrey Lomax, CIRM
Senior Officer, CIRM Strategic Infrastructure (CSI)
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Policy Matters: How CIRM Supports Responsible Research in California
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Dr. Geoffrey Lomax is the Senior Officer for CIRM’s Strategic Infrastructure Program. The CIRM Infrastructure Program develops strategic assets to accelerated the delivery of therapies to patients with unmet medical needs. In this role, Dr. Lomax coordinates the implementation of the CIRM Alpha Clinics Network and CIRM Stem Cell Center. The Alpha Clinics are top California medical centers that deliver high-quality stem cell clinical trials. The Stem Cell Center is a CRO based in California with a dedicated focus on cell therapies. The Center provides strategic planning, regulatory, clinical operations and data management services to clinical trial sponsors. Dr. Lomax also facilitates the development of CIRM’s Medical and Ethical Standards.
Dr. Andreas Stahl, UCB
Principal Investigator, Stahl Lab
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Building a Stem Cell Niche for Brown Adipose Tissue
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Andreas Stahl was born and raised in Hamburg, Germany and moved to the US in 1993 to pursue his PhD at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla followed by postdoctoral work at the Whitehead Institute, MIT, during which time he became interested in lipid transport and metabolic biology.
Dr. Stahl started his independent research career in 2001 at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Stanford University School of Medicine focusing on the role of fatty acid transporters in the development of obesity-related disorders.
In 2007 Dr. Stahl moved to UC Berkeley where he is currently professor and chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology. The Stahl lab has made important contributions to our understanding of lipid fluxes and adipocyte biology and is currently utilizing bioengineering and stem cell based approaches to create and expand brown adipose tissue depots.
Roman Reed
Roman Reed, Patient Advocate
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Stem Cells: Awareness and Advocacy
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It was the first game of the college football season, and Roman Reed was playing exceptionally well. Then fate intervened. The tackle only took a few seconds, a vertebra was crushed, and his dream of playing in the NFL ended. “I tried to give a thumbs-up to the crowd, but my hand didn’t work. I went from being able to bench press 430 pounds to not being able to lift my arms or move my legs.” Roman was told that he would never walk again, never use his arms, and never father a child. His response? “Never tell me never!” Today, Roman can bench press 225 pounds and is the proud father of three! Spearheaded by the 20th District Assembly person John Dutra, Roman has worked tirelessly to have the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act passed in California. As a result, more than $12.5 million in state funds has been awarded to scientists conducting research in spinal cord regeneration. An additional $50 million has been leveraged from outside sources. Roman joined the SPSC to promote research and awareness on behalf of all those with spinal cord injury and dysfunction. President Obama invited him to the March 9, 2009, ceremony commemorating the historic reversal of the government’s ban on the use of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Roman is not only back in the game, he is also calling plays.
Dr. Juli Sneddon, UCSF
Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor
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The Pancreatic Niche in Development and Disease
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Julie Sneddon started her own laboratory three years ago as an Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco, where she is a member of the Diabetes Center and the Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research. Julie grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, and then attended Harvard College, where she earned her degree in Biochemical Sciences and performed her honors thesis research with Dr. Stuart Schreiber. She next headed west to Stanford University, where she earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry in the laboratory of Dr. Patrick O. Brown. Julie then returned to the Boston area, where she completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Douglas Melton. She is excited to now be building her own laboratory, where her group seeks to understand the role of the tissue microenvironment in pancreatic development and to harness this knowledge for the production of optimal human embryonic stem cell-derived pancreatic beta-like cells for the purposes of cell replacement therapy to treat diabetes.
Mary Bass, Americans for Cures Foundation
Executive Director
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Americans for Cures
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Mary Bass is the Executive Director of Americans for Cures, the stem cell research advocacy non-profit created by California’s Proposition 71, the 2004 ballot initiative that authorized $3 billion in funding for stem cell research and therapy development. Ms. Bass leads a multidisciplinary team of leaders in scientific communications, digital strategy, grassroots and patient advocacy outreach, media strategy, health care economics, and public policy activities.
Ms. Bass directs Americans for Cures’ statewide Report Back to the Public scientific
communications program, the purpose of which is to alert the public to the breakthroughs in stem cell research and therapy development since the passage of Proposition 71. This Report Back to the Public addresses the critical problems caused by dramatic cutbacks in scientific journalism by translating complex stem cell science and breakthroughs into clear, easily digestible formats. Through this program, Americans for Cures communicates high-quality, scientifically accurate, trustworthy coverage of advances in stem cell research.
Ms. Bass serves on the Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee of the University of California, Berkeley, and holds a Bachelor of Art degree in Public Policy, with a concentration in Health Policy and Biomedical Ethics, from Stanford University.
