The Stem Cell Podcast

Dr. Paul Knoepfler is a Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy, the Genome Center, and the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Davis. His lab is interested in the epigenetics of stem cells and cancer, and uses cutting-edge molecular, cellular, and developmental biology methods as well as genomic and gene editing technologies to answer key questions in these areas of research.

Dr. Jennifer Trowbridge is an Associate Professor at the Jackson Laboratory and an Adjunct Professor at Tufts University. Her lab studies genetics and epigenetics in hematopoietic stem cell biology and leukemia. Their long-term goal is to identify new intervention strategies to extend the “healthspan” of HSCs by maintaining their robust regeneration capacity into older age and reducing risk of development of blood cancers.

In this special episode of the Stem Cell Podcast, we speak with three postdocs from different parts of the world about their research in and outside of the lab. Drs. Bria Macklin, Matthew Sinton, and Leili Rohani discuss their research on vascularization, immunometabolism, and cardiac tissue engineering, respectively, as well as their long-term career goals.

Dr. Connie Eaves is a Distinguished Scientist at the Terry Fox Laboratory at the British Columbia Cancer Agency and a Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on leukemia and breast cancer and the normal tissues in which these diseases originate. Her pioneering research in basic blood stem cell biology led to a breakthrough in treatment for leukemia.

Dr. Ken Poss is the James B. Duke Professor of Cell Biology and Head of the Duke Regeneration Center at Duke University. His lab investigates the initial morphogenesis and injury-induced regeneration of several tissues in zebrafish. He is also President of the newly-founded International Society for Regenerative Biology.

Dr. Anthony Atala is the Founding Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Chair of Urology at the Wake Forest School of Medicine. His team developed the first lab-grown organ to be implanted into a human and he currently oversees a team of over 400 researchers who are working to develop cell therapies and engineer replacement organs and tissues.

Bernie Siegel is an attorney and policy expert relating to stem cell research, regenerative medicine, and human cloning. He is the Executive Director of the Regenerative Medicine Foundation and the Founder of the World Stem Cell Summit.

Dr. Aparna Bhaduri is an Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Her lab studies how the human brain is created, with billions of cells spanning hundreds or thousands of cell types. They also explore how the cell building blocks of development can reappear later in life in brain cancers such as glioblastoma.

Dr. Nicolas Rivron is a Group Leader at IMBA. The Rivron group recreates embryonic development using mammalian stem cells in a dish to better understand the encoded principles of self-organization. They observe both blastocysts and blastoids to study how self-organization contributes to multicellular patterning and cellular decision making.

In June 2021, we attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) virtual annual meeting, and recorded daily video episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the fourth of five special episodes from the meeting, featuring Dr. Sheila Charli from Cell Stem Cell.