Stephen Lin is a senior science officer at California’s stem cell agency, CIRM. He joined the Agency in 2015 to oversee the its $32M initiative to create a repository of iPSCs from over 2800 individuals covering both genetically complex and rare diseases, as well as a $40M genomics initiative that applies cutting edge genomics and bioinformatics approaches to stem cell research and therapeutic development. He is also program lead on a $15M award to create a preclinical research organization termed the Translating Center that focuses on preparing stem cell therapy candidates for clinical trials through support with process development, safety/toxicity studies, and manufacturing. From 2012 he had been a staff scientist and team lead at Thermo Fisher Scientific (formerly Life Technologies). Prior to that he was a scientist since 2006 at StemCells, Inc of California in the area of liver cell therapeutics. Dr. Lin received his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 2002 under Jeffrey Gordon and did his postdoctoral research at Harvard University under Stanley Korsmeyer.

Stem Cell related therapies, Therapeutic Development, Transplantation, Regenerative Medicine

Chris joined Immunocore as Chief Medical Officer in April 2015. She has extensive experience in oncology drug development, with expertise in both clinical development and translational medicine. Prior to joining Immunocore Chris led two early development programmes at Novartis in checkpoint inhibition and PI3 kinase inhibition. She has also served as International Project Team Leader at Morphotek Inc., the monoclonal antibody company acquired by Eisai Co. Ltd in 2007, where she led the early clinical development team responsible for monoclonal antibody development against novel targets. Chris graduated with an M.D. and Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied patient responses to tumour antigens with Dr Robert Vonderheide in the division of Translational Research under the direction of Dr Carl June.

Oncology Drug Development, Clinical development and Translational Medicine

Raj Kumar, PhD is Director of Research and a Professor of Biochemistry in the Basic Sciences Department. He received his PhD and did his Postdoctoral work at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. His research focuses on: Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology; Protein Biochemistry, Structural Biology, and Biophysical Chemistry; Thermodynamics of protein Folding/Unfolding; Cancer Biology; Pharmacology and pathology of Gastrointestinal Tract; Diabetes; Signal Transduction, Post transcriptional Modifications; Endocrinology; Biology of Nuclear Hormone Receptors; Inflammation; and, Allergy and Asthma. Raj comes to us from the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Structure:function studies of the steroid hormone receptors

Khalid Shah is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and directs the Molecular Neurotherapy and Imaging Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. He is also the Director of the Stem Cell Therapeutics and Imaging program in MGH's Center for Translational Research, and is a Principal Faculty at Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston. Dr. Shah's recently published works are two books featuring current groundbreaking insights into stem cell therapies for cancer, Stem Cell Therapeutics for Cancer (Wiley-Blackwell 2013), and Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Cancer Therapy (Elsevier 2014). The potential of developing novel cancer therapies by him and his team has been recognized by many cancer alliances and associations. Based on this, he has received the young investigator award from Alliance for cancer gene therapy (ACGT), Research fellow award from American Cancer Society (ACS), Distinguished research award from Academy of Radiology and Innovation awards from James McDonnell Foundation, American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) and Goldhirsh foundation. Additionally, Dr. Shah has participated in the training of numerous undergraduate, graduate students and residents at MGH and the potential of his mentoring has been recognized by Harvard Medical School, who recently awarded him the Harvard Young Mentor Award.

In recent years, Dr. Shah and his team have pioneered major developments in the cancer research field, successfully developing experimental models to understand basic cancer biology and therapeutic stem cells for cancer, particularly brain tumors. These studies have been published in a number of very high impact journals like Nature Neuroscience, PNAS, Nature Reviews Cancer, JNCI, Stem Cells and Lancet Oncology, validating the use of therapeutic stem cells alone and in combination with clinically approved drugs for cancer therapy.

Dr. Bulent Ozpolat is an associate professor in Department of Experimental Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine, UTMDACC, Houston, TX. Dr. Ozpolat is a member of Center for Targeted Therapy, Alliance for Nano heath, Texas Center Cancer Nanomedicine (CCNE), Ovarian Cancer Moonshots, Non-Coding RNA Center at MDACC and closely collaborating Dr. Kevin Dalby (UT-Austin) Dr. Michael Ittmann, (Baylor College of Medicine), Dr. James Sahn (UT-Austin), Jonathan Sessler (UT-Austin) Dr. Fahri Saatcioglu (University of Oslo). As part of ovarian cancer study group Dr. Ozpolat is collaborating with Drs. Lopez-Berestein, Sood and Coleman to develop tumor- targeted therapies. He serves as a reviewer for several journals and study sections and published many papers and review articles in high impact journals and contributed to 12 book chapters. Dr. Ozpolat is holding a patent and several applications are pending.

Developing highly specific tumor-targeting nanocarriers (nanoliposomes and polymer-based nanoparticles) for the delivery of oligonucleotides, non-coding RNAs (i.e., siRNA, microRNA , anti-Mirs), peptides, proteins, drugs and small molecule inhibitors, Studying the role of survival pathways, including autophagy and eEF2-kinase (eEF2K) signaling and development of novel therapeutic agents (small molecule inhibitors and siRNA-based nanotherapeutics) that target these pathways and Development of these agents into clinical strategies for patients.

Dr. Zhang’s work is mainly focused on cardiovascular research. His team has published more than 100 peer-reviewed SCI research articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Science, J Exp Med, Cell Metab, Mol Cell, JACC and Circ Res, with a total impact factor of more than 500 and more than 700 citations.

Translational studies of non-coding RNAs in cardiovascular disease, inflammation and HIV, diabetes, aging, wound healing, stroke, addiction, organ protection, stem cell/ regenerative medicine and lung cancer

Dr. Noh is a Professor from Seoul National University of Science & Technology. He completed his PhD from University of Texas at Austin.

Polymeric biomaterials , Injectable hydrogels for bioprinting and tissue engineering , Polymer-ceramic hybrid hydrogel, Scaffolds for tissue engineering, Local drug delivery , Tissue engineering, and Nano-micro biotechnology .

Viktor I. Sevastianov has completed his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the age of 28 at the Institute of Chemical Physics of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences in Moscow and became a Doctor of Sciences (Biophysics) at the Research Institute of Transplantology and Artificial Organs in 1985, Professor (Biophysics) since 1992. He is the Director of the Institute of Biomedical Research and Technology and Head and Professor of the Department for Biomedical Technology and Tissue Engineering at the Shumakov Federal Research Center of Transplantology and Artificial Organs in Moscow, head of Russian Technical Standardization Committee TC 422 “Biological Safety of Medical Devices” (2009 to present), and serves as an editorial board member of 5 international and 2 Russian journals. Main scientific results are presented in more than 400 publications, 47 Russian Patents and 4 WO Patents. He supervised the defense of 31 Ph.D. and 6 Dr. Sci. candidates.

Living Systems/Material Interactions, Biomaterials, Drug Delivery Systems, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine.

Dr.Murugan Ramalingam is Professor at the Centre for Stem Cell Research (a unit of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine-Bengaluru), Christian Medical College Campus, India. Concurrently he is Adjunct Professor at the Tohoku University, Japan. Prior to joining the CSCR, he was Associate Professor of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Faculté de Chirurgie Dentaire, Université de Strasbourg, France. He has worked at the WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Japan, as an Assistant Professor. He has also worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), under the U.S. National Academies Associateship program. He received his Ph.D. in Biomaterials from the University of Madras. He has also undergone training in Ethical and Policy issues on Stem Cells from Harvard University, USA, and in Operations Management from the University of Illinois-Chicago. His current research interests are focused on the development of multiphase biomedical materials, through conventional to nanotechnology to biomimetic approaches, microfabrication, cell patterning, stem cell differentiation, tissue engineering and drug delivery. He is the author of over 300 publications, including peer-reviewed journal papers, conference proceedings, book chapters, authored books, edited books, and patents relevant to biomaterials, stem cells, and tissue engineering. His current h-index is 30 with over 6500 citations. He has organized several international conferences and chaired Biomaterials, Nanobiotechnology, Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering sessions. He also serves as a board member of several international scientific and research committees in various public and private bodies and grant reviewer of various international funding agencies. He serves on the editorial boards of multiple biomaterials and tissue engineering-related journals, including as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, the Journal of Bionanoscience and the Stem Cell Research and Therapy. He is a recipient of several prestigious fellowships and awards, including CSIR Fellowship (India), SMF Fellowship (Singapore), NRC National Academies Fellowship (USA), Nationale Professeur des Universités (France), Fellow of Institute of Nanotechnology (UK) and Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (UK).

Biomaterials, Nanobiotechnology, Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering

Dr. Murugan Ramalingam is Professor at the Centre for Stem Cell Research (a unit of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine-Bengaluru), Christian Medical College Campus, India. Concurrently he is Adjunct Professor at the Tohoku University, Japan. Prior to joining the CSCR, he was Associate Professor of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Faculté de Chirurgie Dentaire, Université de Strasbourg, France. He has worked at the WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Japan, as an Assistant Professor. He has also worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), under the U.S. National Academies Associateship program. He received his Ph.D. in Biomaterials from the University of Madras. He has also undergone training in Ethical and Policy issues on Stem Cells from Harvard University, USA, and in Operations Management from the University of Illinois-Chicago. His current research interests are focused on the development of multiphase biomedical materials, through conventional to nanotechnology to biomimetic approaches, microfabrication, cell patterning, stem cell differentiation, tissue engineering and drug delivery. He is the author of over 300 publications, including peer-reviewed journal papers, conference proceedings, book chapters, authored books, edited books, and patents relevant to biomaterials, stem cells, and tissue engineering. His current h-index is 30 with over 6500 citations. He has organized several international conferences and chaired Biomaterials, Nanobiotechnology, Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering sessions. He also serves as a board member of several international scientific and research committees in various public and private bodies and grant reviewer of various international funding agencies. He serves on the editorial boards of multiple biomaterials and tissue engineering-related journals, including as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, the Journal of Bionanoscience and the Stem Cell Research and Therapy. He is a recipient of several prestigious fellowships and awards, including CSIR Fellowship (India), SMF Fellowship (Singapore), NRC National Academies Fellowship (USA), Nationale Professeur des Universités (France), Fellow of Institute of Nanotechnology (UK) and Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (UK).

Biomaterials, Nanobiotechnology, Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering