The Stem Cell Podcast

Dr. Shankar Srinivas is a Professor of Developmental Biology in the Department of Physiology Anatomy and Genetics based in the Institute for Developmental and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Oxford. He is also a Zeitlyn Fellow and Tutor in Medicine at Jesus College. Using mouse and human embryos as model systems, his group looks at the control of patterning and morphogenesis during the establishment of the anterior-posterior axis, gastrulation, and early cardiogenesis.  He discusses how tissues respond to forces during early development, characterizing cardiac progenitors, and his experience training internationally.

Dr. Pierre Vanderhaeghen is a Professor and Principal Investigator at VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research. His lab studies the mechanisms of cortical development and brain evolution. He talks about species-specific neuronal development, human neuron excitability, and playing in a rock cover band!

Dr. Ryan Flynn is a Principal Investigator at Boston Children's Hospital and an Assistant Professor in the Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Department at Harvard University. His lab explores the interface between RNA and glycans. He talks about the discovery of glycoRNA and the chemistry of the RNA-glycan connection. He also discusses the effects of glycans on stem cell function and deciding between a career in medicine and basic science.

Dr. Blair Benham-Pyle is an Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. She talks about how multipotent cells in Schmidtea mediterranea enable whole-body regeneration. She also discusses the effects of the mechanical environment on stem cell fate.

Dr. Amander Clark is the President of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) and Founding Director of the Center for Reproductive Science, Health, and Education at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Agnete Kirkeby is a Program Chair of the ISSCR Annual Meeting, Associate Professor at Lund University and the University of Copenhagen, and Group Leader at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology – reNEW. Dr. Malin Parmar is a Program Chair of the ISSCR Annual Meeting, Professor at Lund University, and a New York Stem Cell Foundation – Robertson Investigator. They talk about the upcoming ISSCR 2024 meeting in Hamburg, Germany from July 10-13, 2024. They discuss the meeting's clinical focus, spotlight and plenary sessions, and opportunities for students and postdocs.

Explore the role of glial cells in the gut and their impact on intestinal motility. Learn about the research on astrocytes in organoids and their function. Discover advancements in bone marrow organoids modeling hematopoietic development and lymphoma organoids for targeted cancer treatments. Dive into the challenges and successes of creating graftable hematopoietic stem cells. Delve into the importance of diversity and authentic problem-solving in science.

Dr. Ritu Raman is the d’Arbeloff Career Development Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, where her lab uses robotics and tissue engineering to treat muscle loss. She talks about light-activated muscle grafts, magnetic microparticles to control forces exerted on cells, and strategies for science communication.

Dr. Shiri Gur-Cohen is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Regenerative Medicine at UC San Diego. Her lab studies epithelial stem cells throughout their lifetimes. She talks about lymphatics in the intestinal stem cell niche, 3D imaging techniques, and sharing her science with a wider audience.

Dr. Malin Parmar is a Professor at Lund University and a New York Stem Cell Foundation – Robertson Investigator. Her research aims to understand cell fate specification in the developing brain and in human neural progenitor cells using cell-based models of neuronal differentiation. She talks about using assembloids to model the dopaminergic system, direct reprogramming somatic cells into induced neurons, and developing ESC-derived dopamine progenitor cells to treat Parkinson's disease.

Dr. Olivier Pourquié is the Frank Burr Mallory Professor of Pathology and Professor in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. His work focuses on the segmentation clock and the development of muscles and vertebrae. He talks about studying somitogenesis in vitro and his work on brown fat development.