Speakers

Confirmed Speakers :: 2011 Scientific Symposium @ Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesa

Keynotes

Sir Ian Wilmut, FRS, FRSE, Director, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh

Dr. Wilmut obtained a B.Sc. in agricultural science at the University of Nottingham before studying at the University of Cambridge, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in 1971. His subsequent research in Cambridge led to the birth of the first calf from a frozen embryo — “Frosty” — in 1973. Dr. Wilmut is the former head of the Department of Gene Expression and Development at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, Scotland. He is uniquely qualified both as a pioneer in the science of cloning and as a participant in the public discussions of its possible social and ethical consequences. Dr. Wilmut is the leader of the team that produced Dolly the sheep in 1996, the first animal to be cloned from an adult cell. Dr. Wilmut’s own research focuses on the cloning of human embryos to provide stem cells for treatment of degenerative disorders such as diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

In 2000, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the highest Scottish society of learning, and in the previous year was made a member of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. Other awards include a fellowship in the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Lord Lloyd of Kilgerran Prize, the Sir John Hammond Memorial Prize of the Society for the Study of Fertility, the Sir William Young Award of the Royal Highland & Agricultural Society of Scotland, and the Research Medal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. In addition to Dr. Wilmut’s many research papers, he has written a large number of articles on the subject of cloning, including pieces for Time, New Scientist, and Scientific American. He has also authored two books on the subject, The Second Creation: Dolly and the Age of Biological Control and After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Cloning.

Rudolf Jaenisch, Ph.D., Founding Member, Whitehead Institute; Professor, Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Dr. Jaenisch received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Munich in 1967. Before Whitehead, he was head of the Department of Tumor Virology at the Heinrich Pette Institute at the University of Hamburg. He has coauthored more than 375 research papers and has received numerous prizes and recognitions, including an appointment to the National Academy of Sciences in 2003. Dr. Jaenisch focuses on understanding epigenetic regulation of gene expression (the biological mechanisms that affect how genetic information is converted into cell structures, but that don’t alter the genes in the process). Most recently, this work has led to major advances in our understanding of embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, which appear identical to embryonic stem cells but can be created from adult cells without using an egg.

In 2007, the Jaenisch Lab was one of three labs worldwide that reported successfully taking cells from mouse tails and reprogramming them into IPS cells, by over-expressing four master gene regulators. Later that year, the lab followed up by further manipulating IPS cells to treat sickle-cell anemia in mice, the first proof in principle of therapeutic use of such cells. In 2008, the lab reported that neurons derived from IPS cells successfully integrated into fetal mouse brains and reduced symptoms in a Parkinson’s disease rat model. In another experiment, researchers demonstrated that fully mature, differentiated mouse B cells can be reprogrammed to IPS cells.

Welcome Remarks

Jonathan Thomas, Ph.D., J.D., Chair, Governing Board, CIRM (Independent Citizens Oversight Committee)

Dr. Thomas majored in biology and history at Yale, where he graduated summa cum laude. As a George C. Marshall Scholar at Oxford, he then earned a Ph.D. with a medical focus in commonwealth history. He subsequently returned to Yale for a J.D. at the Yale Law School. Dr. Thomas went on to be an investment banker for Ehrlich Bober & Co. where, among other things, he led a team that underwrote over $1 billion in various kinds of bonds for the Los Angeles Community College District. He left Ehrlich Bober in 1990 to become a co-founding partner at Saybrook Capital, an investment banking and private equity firm. While with Saybrook, Thomas led an early round of financing for Advanced Cell Technology, which recently received Food and Drug Administration approval for two embryonic stem cell-based clinical trials. Dr. Thomas has a long-standing commitment to patient advocacy. He spent more than 15 years on the Board of the Crippled Children’s Society of Southern California and served as chair for four years. Dr. Thomas currently serves as a member of the AbilityFirst Board.

Master of Ceremonies

Roger Bingham, Co-founder and Director, The Science Network; Member, Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies; Member, Institute for Neural Computation, UC San Diego

Bingham is a member of the Executive Committee of the Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center (TDLC), a National Science Foundation (NSF) Science of Learning Center. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors of Scientific American magazine. Co-author of  The Origin of Minds: Evolution, Uniqueness, and the New Science of the Self, Bingham has also received many honors for his communication of science – including the National Magazine Award and seven Los Angeles Emmy awards.

Panel 1 :: The Science of the Sanford Consortium

Edward Holmes, M.D. (Chair), President and Chief Executive Officer, Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine; Distinguished Professor and Vice Chancellor/Dean Emeritus, Health Sciences, University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego)

Dr. Holmes received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the executive deputy chairman of the Biomedical Research Council and chairman of the National Medical Research Council, Singapore in addition to his positions at the Sanford Consortium and UC San Diego. He has served on numerous advisory boards including the National Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Advisory Council of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Board of Directors of Tularik and was chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of GlaxoSmithKline. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Martin Friedlander, M.D., Ph.D, Professor, Department of Cell Biology, The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI); Chief, Retina Services, Department of Ophthalmology, Scripps Clinic

Dr. Friedlander received his undergraduate education at Bowdoin College where he graduated with highest honors in biology. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in the Committee on Developmental Biology and his M.D. at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center. He carried out his clinical training in ophthalmology, completing a residency and retina fellowship at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He was on the faculties of Rockefeller University and UCLA prior to joining TSRI and Scripps Memorial Hospital in 1993. Dr. Friedlander has been a scholar of the Sinsheimer Heed Ophthalmic Foundations and the recipient of the Alcon Research Award and Bressler Prize in Vision Research. His research is supported by the National Eye Institute, the MacTel Foundation, the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation and CIRM. His stem cell related research interests focus on using iPSC derived retinal cells for treating retinal degenerative diseases and understanding the role of adult bone marrow and cord blood-derived hematopoietic stem cells, integrins, matrix metalloproteinases and other extracellular matrix and cellular receptors during angiogenesis. He has also had a long-standing interest in targeting, translocation and integration of polytopic membrane proteins including rhodopsin and sodium-calcium exchangers.

Fred ‘Rusty’ Gage,  Ph.D., Professor and Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Diseases, Laboratory of Genetics, Salk Institute for Biological Studies; Adjunct Professor, Department of Neurosciences, UC San Diego

Dr. Gage received his Ph.D. in 1976 from The Johns Hopkins University. His work concentrates on the adult central nervous system and unexpected plasticity and adaptability to environmental stimulation that remains throughout the life of all mammals. In addition, his studies focus on the cellular, molecular and environmental influences that regulate neurogenesis in the adult. He has won numerous prizes and awards for his work including the IPSEN Prize for Neuroplasticity, the Charles A. Dana Award, Metropolitan Life Research Award and the Keio Medical Science Prize. Dr. Gage serves on many health-related boards, was previously president of the Society for Neuroscience and is the current president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an associate member of the European Molecular Biology Organization and a member of the American Philosophical Society.

Lawrence Goldstein, Ph.D., Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Distinguished Professor, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine; Director, UC San Diego Stem Cell Program

Dr. Goldstein has been with the UC San Diego School of Medicine since 1993. A UC San Diego alumnus, he received his B.S. in biology and genetics from UC San Diego and his Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Washington, Seattle. Previously, he was a professor at Harvard University in the Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology. His awards include a Senior Scholar Award from the Ellison Medical Foundation, an American Cancer Society Faculty Research Award, election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the 2009 Public Service Award from the American Society for Cell Biology. He has had an active role in national science policy, and served as co-chair of the scientific advisory committee to the campaign for the Proposition 71 stem cell research initiative, which authorizes $3 billion in tax-free state bonds to fund stem cell research in California over 10 years. He is a co-founder of the biotechnology company Cytokinetics, and author of Stem Cells for Dummies.

Evan Snyder, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Director, Program in Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and Stem Cell Research Center, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (SBMRI)

Dr. Snyder earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980. He completed residencies in pediatrics and neurology at Children’s Hospital-Boston, Harvard Medical School and postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School. In 1992, Dr. Snyder was appointed as an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School and was promoted to assistant professor in 1996. He is regarded as one of the fathers of the stem cell field, having identified over two decades ago that cells that came to be called stem cells were a source of neural plasticity. He was the first to demonstrate that non-hematopoietic stem cells could mediate cell and gene replacement, home to injury, and perform protective, trophic, pro-regenerative, and anti-inflammatory actions. He was the first to isolate human neural stem cells. In 2003, after 23 years at Harvard, Dr. Snyder was recruited to SBMRI as professor and director of the Stem Cells and Regenerative Biology program.

Panel 2 :: Getting There – Translating the Science of Stem Cells

Jeanne Loring, Ph.D. (Chair), Professor and Director, Center for Regenerative Medicine, Department of Chemical Physiology, TSRI

Dr. Loring was co-director of one of the first NIH-supported human embryonic stem cells centers at SBMRI, prior to joining TSRI. Earlier in her career, Dr. Loring held research and management positions at biotechnology companies including GenPharm International and Incyte Genomics, and was the founder of a human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-based company. Dr. Loring was director of two of the first NIH Human Embryonic Stem Cell Training Courses and now directs one of the largest stem cell training programs in the country. She authored Human Stem Cell Manual: A Laboratory Guide and is featured in a video presentation on the growth of “Stem Cell Tourism,” the dubious practice of offering unproven stem cell therapies to desperate victims of incurable disease. She is a member of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Regulatory and Ethics Board and the board of the University of Massachusetts Stem Cell Bank and Registry.

Philip Gregory, D. Phil. , Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President, Research, Sangamo Biosciences

Dr. Gregory has served as chief scientific officer of Sangamo since July 2009 and vice president, research since October 2005. He joined Sangamo in December 2000 as a scientist, became a team leader in October 2001, senior director, research in July 2003 and vice president, research in October 2005. Prior to joining the company, Dr. Gregory was at the University of Munich, Germany, where he studied the role of chromatin structure in gene regulation and published extensively in this field. He has served as a member of the scientific advisory board of Keystone Symposia since December 2009. Dr. Gregory earned a D. Phil. in biochemistry from the University of Oxford and holds a B.Sc. in microbiology from the University of Sheffield. 

 
David Piper, Ph.D., Senior Manager, Research and Development, Life Technologies

Dr. Piper received his B.S. in biophysics and B.A. in biochemistry from the University of Illinois before earning his Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Utah. His doctorate work focused on understanding the development of neurotransmitter receptor and ion channel function in neural stem cells, neuronal restricted precursors and glial restricted precursors as part of a collaborative project between Dr. Mary Lucero and Dr. Mahendra Rao. His post-doctoral work in Dr. Michael Sanguinetti’s laboratory focused on the structure-function relationships that underlie the voltage-dependent gating of the hERG cardiac potassium channel. Dr. Piper joined Life Technologies (Invitrogen) Discovery and ADME/T Systems where he led the development of the only commercially available fluorescence hERG binding assay. He has since held various R&D positions and led teams to develop cell-based assays for ion channels, GPCRs, pathway profiling and next generation cellular engineering. Dr. Piper currently leads a group of scientists that develops custom cell-based/biochemical assays and stem cell provisioning projects. While principally focused on the pharmaceutical industry, this group supports endeavors of non-profit and academic laboratories.

Mahendra Rao, M.D., PH.D., Director, Center for Regenerative Medicine; Laboratory Chief, Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology, NIH

Dr. Rao is internationally renowned for his research involving human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and other somatic stem cells. He has worked in the stem cell field for more than 20 years, with stints in academia, government and regulatory affairs and industry. He received his M.D. from Bombay University in India and his Ph.D. in developmental neurobiology from the California Institute of Technology. Following postdoctoral training at Case Western Reserve University, he established his research laboratory in neural development at the University of Utah. He next joined the National Institute on Aging as chief of the Neurosciences Section, where he studied neural progenitor cells and continued to explore his longstanding interest in their clinical potential. Most recently, he spent six years as the vice president of Regenerative Medicine at Life Technologies. He co-founded Q Therapeutics, a neural stem cell company based in Salt Lake City. He also served internationally on advisory boards for companies involved in stem cell processing and therapy, on committees including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Cellular Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee chair, and as the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and International Society for Stem Cell Research liaison to the International Society for Cellular Therapy.

Panel 3 :: CIRM Disease Team Reports

Patricia Olson, Ph.D. (Chair), Executive Director, Scientific Activities, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)

Dr. Olson is responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of the research funding program of CIRM. She is a former vice president of Chiron Corporation (now Novartis). At Chiron, Dr. Olson led protein therapeutics research, responsible for discovery and preclinical evaluation of candidate therapeutics. Prior to that, she headed portfolio management and strategic planning for the R&D division of Chiron and was a member of the R&D executive committee responsible for oversight and decisions on research, preclinical and clinical development programs. She participated in the development of two marketed products, is an inventor on over 22 issued US patents and an author of over 29 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Olson received her Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley and her B.S. in cellular biology (magna cum laude) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

Dennis Carson, M.D., (Leukemia) Director Emeritus and Professor, Medicine; Hematologic Malignancies Program, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center

Dr. Carson earned his medical degree from Columbia University and received postgraduate training at The Salk Institute, NIH and UC San Diego. He has founded six biotechnology companies in the fields of cancer and immunology (Vical, Triangle Pharmaceuticals, Dynavax, Salmedix, Telormedix and Wintherix). He is a member the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Carson developed from bench to bedside 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine, which is the treatment of choice for hairy cell leukemia. As cancer center director, his priority was to speed the translation of basic science discoveries into new treatments for cancer patients. As of July 2011, Dr. Carson has returned full time to the laboratory, focusing on cancer progenitor cells.

Martin Marsala, M.D., (ALS) Professor, Neuroregeneration Laboratory, Department of Anesthesiology and Co-Principal Investigator, CIRM ALS Disease Team, UC San Diego

 Dr. Marsala has developed and characterized several models of spinal traumatic and ischemic injury and brain ischemia models using rodents and minipigs over the past 20 years. He has characterized behavioral, electrophysiological, and histopathological changes in the brain and spinal cord, leading to a progressive loss of neurological function. More recently, he and his team at UC San Diego have developed a well-defined scientific basis for initiation and preclinical evaluation of cell-replacement based therapies targeted to modulate neurological dysfunction in a variety of spinal neurodegenerative disorders including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal ischemic injury and spinal traumatic injury. Dr. Marsala’s team is currently focusing on the issues surrounding neural engraftment of astrocytes and neural precursor cells generated from hESC. The use of these models will help address critical issues related to clinical translation of cell-based therapies including spinal cord dimensions, optimal cell dosing, maturation profile of engrafted cells and issues related to long term immunosuppression currently required in patients receiving allogeneic cell grafts.

Allan Robins, Ph.D., (Diabetes) Acting Chief Executive Officer, Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, ViaCyte

Dr. Robins received a B.S. with honors in biochemistry and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Adelaide in Australia. He followed his studies with postdoctoral work at Cambridge University in England. In addition to his duties as acting CEO of ViaCyte, Dr. Robins oversees company-wide manufacturing activities along with research operations in Athens, Georgia. Prior to ViaCyte, Dr. Robins served as chief scientific officer at BresaGen, Inc., the United States subsidiary of BresaGen Limited, an Australian biotechnology company that has since been acquired by Hospira, Inc. Under Dr. Robin’s leadership, BresaGen, Inc. was awarded significant support for its stem cell research from the NIH. BresaGen merged with ViaCyte’s predecessor companies in 2004. Prior to BresaGen, Inc., Dr. Robins was chief scientific officer at BresaGen Limited, where he helped raise over $30 million and developed a proprietary expression system which continues to be used in the production of protein pharmaceuticals.

Inder Verma, Ph.D., (Glioblastoma) Professor and Irwin and Joan Jacobs Chair in Exemplary Life Science, Laboratory of Genetics, Salk Institute for Biological Sciences

Dr. Verma received his Ph.D. from Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, in 1971. He continued his postdoctoral training with David Baltimore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1974 and has been a part of the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences since 1974. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on the development of viruses for gene therapy vectors. He uses genetically engineered viruses to insert new genes into cells that can then be returned to the body, where they produce the essential protein whose absence causes disease. Dr. Verma’s honors include an American Cancer Society Professorship, fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The ASGT Outstanding Achievement Award, Vilcek Foundation Prize and Pasarow Award in Cancer Research. Dr. Verma has also been granted membership in the Third World Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences in India and National Academy of Sciences, USA.

Panel 4 :: Stem Cells in Clinical Trials

Catriona Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D. (Chair), Associate Professor, Medicine; Team Leader, Hematology; Director, Stem Cell Research Program, Moores UC San Diego Cancer Center

Dr. Jamieson received her BS.c. in biology (genetics), Ph.D. in microbiology and M.D. from the University of British Columbia. After completing a residency program in internal medicine, she trained at Stanford University Medical Center in bone marrow transplantation and hematology. Dr. Jamieson is both a hematologist-oncologist and stem cell biologist. She became an instructor in hematology at Stanford in 2003, following a post-doctoral stem cell biology research fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Irving L. Weissman. She then joined the UC San Diego faculty of medicine in November 2005. At UC San Diego, Dr. Jamieson has continued to build on her national and international reputation for her translational research on stem cells and cancer, particularly in the area of hematologic malignancies. She was the first recipient of a CIRM grant to derive and characterize cancer stem cells from embryonic stem cells, and has received a number of awards including the Forbeck Scholar Award.

Nicholas Boulis, M.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, Emory University

Dr. Boulis is a physician scientist whose research interests include biological neurorestoration and neuromodulation through the use of cell, protein and gene delivery to the nervous system. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Yale University with distinction in intensive biology and philosophy and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Medical School, winning the Harold Lamport Biomedical Research Award. Dr. Boulis is a neurosurgeon with significant expertise in the field of gene transfer to the nervous system. His Gene and Cell Therapy Translational Laboratory pursues advanced biological treatments for neurological disorders, including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Dr. Boulis has developed a clinical program focusing on peripheral nerve regeneration, spasticity, pain and Parkinson’s Disease, applying advanced microsurgical, radiosurgical and ablative and neural augmentation approaches. In 1997, Dr. Boulis founded Project Shunt, gathering donated equipment and organizing a team of relief neurosurgeons to deliver care to patients with congenital hydrocephalus and neural tube defects. Dr. Boulis continues to accompany the team and serves as one of Project Shunt’s neurosurgeons.

Robert Deans, Ph.D.,  Executive Vice President, Regenerative Medicine, Athersys, Inc.

Dr. Deans holds degrees from MIT and the University of Michigan, and conducted his postdoctoral training in molecular immunology at UCLA. He is responsible for regenerative medicine technology development at Athersys, Inc. and its European subsidiary, ReGenesys. Athersys is developing cell therapeutics based on adherent stem cells (MultiStem) isolated from adult bone marrow. Athersys has active Phase I and II clinical development activity in acute myocardial infarct, stroke, ulcerative colitis and for adjunctive therapy of allogeneic bone marrow transplant. Dr. Deans is also chairman of the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) Commercialization Committee and serves on a number of regulatory advisory committees. Dr. Deans has more than 20 years of experience in stem cell therapeutics, having previously served at Osiris Therapeutics as vice president of research. Dr. Deans was previously director of R&D at Baxter Healthcare, where he developed biological components of the Isolex300i hematopoietic stem cell purification platform. In addition, Dr. Deans served on the faculty at University of Southern California (USC) Medical School from 1984 to 1992. 

Steven Schwartz, M.D., Ahmanson Professor, Ophthalmology, Chief, Retina Division, Co-Director, Macular Center and Director, UCLA Diabetic Eye Disease and Retinal Vascular Center; Member, Jules Stein Eye Institute

Dr. Schwartz’ primary areas of research include early diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), diabetic eye disease, and macular degeneration. Additionally, his focus includes development and evaluation of novel medical device technologies, imaging technologies, surgical equipment (including surgical robots) and drug delivery systems, with particular emphasis on diagnostic and treatment applications. Dr. Schwartz’ clinical research focuses on trials of novel pharmacotherapeutic agents to discover treatments for both wet and dry age-related macular degeneration, ROP and diabetic retinopathy. This year, Dr. Schwartz led two new clinical trials testing the use of stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells to address vision loss in people suffering from Stargardt’s macular dystrophy and dry age-related macular degeneration.