Stem Cell Club provides fellows, faculty, and staff opportunities to present their research; learn of cutting-edge discoveries in the field of stem cell biology; network and build constellations; and interact with external speakers from a variety of institutions.
Meetings are typically held on the second Wednesday of each month in Biomed 200, however as schedules may change, please refer to the specific scheduled date to confirm location and time.
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Upcoming Stem Cell Club Meetings
Title: Cracking the Code of Cell States: Regeneration and Cancer in Breast Tissue – Queralt Vallmajó Martín; Wahl Lab, Salk Institute
Queralt Vallmajó-Martín, PhD is a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. Queralt graduated with a B.S. in Biotechnology in 2011 from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain, and obtained her Master in Biomedical Engineering from ETH Zürich, Switzerland. In 2019, she received her Ph.D. in Biotechnology and Bioengineering from EPF Lausanne, Switzerland, where she established bioengineered human bone marrow models utilizing synthetic and chemically defined biomaterials and applied those models to investigate cancer osteotropism in vivo. In June 2021, Queralt joined the Salk Institute as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Geoffrey Wahl, where she focused on identifying molecular and environmental factors that drive the progression of local pre-cancerous lesions to invasive triple-negative breast cancer. After Dr. Wahl’s retirement in July 2024, she transitioned to Dr. Deepshika Ramanan’s lab, where she is now investigating the relationship between tumor cell plasticity, immune evasion, and their contribution to breast tumorigenesis. Beyond her research, Queralt is deeply committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in science through mentoring trainees, organizing leadership development workshops, and building programs that foster community and professional growth among early-career scientists.
Title: From Bacterial Battles to Bioluminescent Bonds: Histidine Kinase Inhibitors for Bacterial Infections, Hawaiian Squid Symbiosis, and Directed Evolution with Mass Spectrometry Innovations – Conrad Fihn (IRACDA Fellow); Sanchez Lab, UCSC
Dr Fihn earned their Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Minnesota under the guidance of Erin Carlson, where they studied histidine kinase inhibitors as virulence blockers in pathogenic bacteria. They have since joined Laura Sanchez’s lab at the University of California, Santa Cruz, as an NIH IRACDA Fellow, where they are working to establish methods for MALDI-TOF-based screening methods for directed evolution and examining small molecule-protein interactions in the symbiosis of Vibrio fischeri and Euprymna scolopes.
Speakers: – Diksha Sharma (CIRM Predoc), Shally Saini (CIRM Predoc), and Gabby Servito (CIRM Predoc)
Diksha Sharma Talk Title: Identifying small molecule ligands for PAS domains in the circadian clock
Shally Saini Talk Title: Defining the Dual Roles of Lung Fibroblasts in Mediating Inflammation and Epithelial Repair Following Viral Infection.
Gabby Servito Talk Title: Defining the Dual Roles of Lung Fibroblasts in Mediating Inflammation and Epithelial Repair Following Viral Infection.
Title: TBD – Atesh Worthington; Tippi MacKenzie Lab, UCSF
More info coming soon.
Title: TBD – TBD
More info coming soon.
Recent Meetings
“Career opportunities in the stem cell and gene therapy field. A view from CIRM.” – Uta Grieshammer, Ph.D.; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Fellow
Uta Grieshammer is a CIRM Fellow at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state agency that administers Proposition 14 bond funds to support stem cell and gene therapy research in California. As part of the Scientific Programs and Education team, she manages a portfolio of grants and is involved in developing requests for applications to solicit research and infrastructure proposals that advance basic stem cell and gene therapy research and in implementing approaches to ensure FAIR sharing of CIRM-funded data.
Uta is a developmental biologist; she received her PhD in biochemistry from Boston University and conducted postdoctoral research in mouse and chick embryology at UCSF. In prior roles, Uta has served as the scientific program director for the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM), and as a program officer at the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP).
No Stem Cell Club – Research Review Day will be on Friday November 15th at Seymour Marine Discovery Center
Research Review Day will occur on Nov 15th, 2024. No Stem Cell Club will be held; please join us again in December!
Title TBD – Selma Masri, Ph.D.; UC Irvine
Title TBD – Isobel Fetter; CIRM Pre-Doctoral Fellow, UCSC
