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 Biomed200, 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
“Decoding the genetic landscape of human brain expansion” – Richard She, Ph.D.; MIT
Richard She is a postdoctoral fellow in Jonathan Weissman’s lab at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Science. He is a molecular biologist studying human evolution using stem cell models of great apes. The last time he was in Santa Cruz, he lost his glasses while night swimming and had to attend the last day of a conference severely near-sighted.
Hosted By: Ben Topacio, Ph.D.; IRACDA Postdoctoral Trainee
“Life Lines: How DNA Threads May Help Rescue Broken Chromosomes” – Alison Mills, Ph.D
Alison earned her Ph.D. studying plant cell division at UC Riverside but has since switched to flies and cell culture work here at UC Santa Cruz. Her recent research focuses on unraveling how DNA threads play a potentially protective role for the genome when confronted with DNA damage.
“Investigating the role of m6a methylation in age-specific platelet production” – Jenna Myers
Jenna is a current CIRM Predoctoral Trainee in Camilla Forsberg’s Lab. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry with a focus in Medicinal Chemistry from Arizona State, she moved to San Diego. There she worked at Abbott in the Rapid Diagnostics department for over 3 years before pursuing graduate school. Currently, Jenna is identifying novel cell surface markers for improving sort purity of HSCs and MkPs. The bulk of her research is focused on identifying and understanding epigenetic differences between the canonical and age-associated MkP pathways to eventually use as therapeutic targets for age-related blood disorders.
“Causes and Consequences of Increased Expansion Capacity of Age-Specific Megakaryocyte Progenitors (MkPs)” – Saran Chattopadhyaya, Ph.D.
Saran is a current NIH/NICHD T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Camilla Forsberg’s Lab. Saran recently completed his 1st year of the T32 training program. In the lab, Saran’s project focuses on mitochondrial regulation and its impact on cellular functionality, particularly in the context of ageing and cellular proliferation within the bone marrow.
“Stem Cells in Models of Spinal Cord Injury” – Mark H. Tuszynski, M.D., Ph.D. – UC San Diego
Dr. Tuszynski received his undergraduate and M.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He received clinical training in neurology at Cornell University Medical Center in NY, NY from 1984-1987, and became board-certified in neurology in 1989. He attended graduate school at the University of California-San Diego from 1988-1991, earning a Ph.D. in neuroscience. Dr. Tuszynski joined the faculty of the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California-San Diego in 1991. He is currently Professor and Director of the UCSD Center for Neural Repair, and Founding Director of the UCSD Translational Neuroscience Institute. Dr. Tuszynski’s research focuses on the role of growth factors and stem cells in influencing cell survival, plasticity and regeneration in the adult central nervous system. He actively researches the topics of Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord injury, cellular mechanisms of normal memory, and bioengineering. In 2001 he conducted the first human clinical trial of gene therapy to treat an adult neurological disorder, testing the effects of nerve growth factor gene delivery in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. He has won over 20 national research awards and is the author of over 300 scientific and medical publications.
Hosted By: Richard Dickson, Ph.D.; IRACDA Postdoctoral Trainee
Title TBD – Taylorlyn Stephan
Taylorlyn is a current CIRM Predoctoral Trainee in their second year of their Training Program.
Title TBD – Richard Dickson, Ph.D.
Richard is a current IRACDA Postdoctoral Trainee in their third year of their Training Program.
“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).
Recent Meetings
Stem Cell Club – Stem Cell Ethics Special SJRC Joint Session
January 24th, 2024 – BIOMED300
Join the Institute for the Biology of Stem Cells (IBSC) in conjunction with the UCSC Science and Justice Research Center for a special session of Stem Cell Club with special undergraduate guests from Seoul National University.
Stem Cell Ethics Group Discussion with Presentation by Dr. Yohei Rosen (CIRM Postdoc)
Stem Cell Club Location:
BIOMED200
Time:
12:00pm
We will be discussing the exciting and emerging field of human brain organoids, with CIRM Postdoctoral Fellow Yohei Rosen kicking off the discussion with a 30-minute presentation on organoids and the current state of research as well as their accompanying ethics. Following the first half of Stem Cell Club we will then have an organic group discussion about organoids; organic-intelligence; ethical considerations; potential regulation; and more.
Stem Cell Club – Sree Lakshmi Velandi Maroli (CIRM) + Bryce Manso (IRACDA)
November 8th, 2023 – BIOMED300
The IBSC Stem Cell Club is thrilled to present:
Presentations:
Sree Lakshmi Velandi Maroli (CIRM)
Presentation Title: “Influence of KRAS on transposable element RNA during stem cell differentiation”
Bryce Manso (IRACDA)
Presentation Title: “Phenotypic and functionally-distinct megakaryocyte progenitor populations differentially contribute to hematopoiesis throughout life”
Location
Biomed200 (Map of Building Location)
Time
12:00pm – 1:00pm (PST)
Guest Speaker:
Veronica Cochrane Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Researcher, Helmholtz Munich
Presentation:
A Stem Cell Approach to Diabetes
Location
Biomed200 (Map of Building Location)
Time
12:00pm – 1:00pm (PST)
Guest Speaker:
Lida Langroudi Ph.D.; Dept. of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto (Mitchell Lab); Incoming UCSC Postdoctoral Fellow (Shariati Lab)
Presentation:
“Evaluating the role of Myelin Regulatory Factor in mouse embryonic development”
About the Speaker:
Dr. Langroudi is a recent graduate from the University of Toronto where they worked within the Mitchell Lab, which investigates how the genome functions in stem cells to regulate self-renewal and differentiation. Dr. Langroudi will be joining the Shariati Lab at UC Santa Cruz as a Postdoctoral fellow.
Guest Speaker:
A zoom option is available for members of the campus community who cannot attend in person.
Stem Cell Ethics and Implications with Special Guest Dr. Jenny Reardon
Location
Alumni Room
Time
12:00pm – 1:00pm (PST)
Discussion Leaders:
- Jenny Reardon, Ph.D. – Professor of Sociology, Founding Director of the UCSC Science & Justice Research Center, UCSC
- Lindsay Hinck, Ph.D. – Distinguished Professor of MCD Biology, UCSC
- Camilla Forsberg, Ph.D. – Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, UCSC
Assigned Reading: To facilitate an active and engaged discussion on stem cell ethics, please take the team to read the following article in advance of the Feb 8th Stem Cell Club: Saunders R, Savulescu J. Research ethics and lessons from Hwanggate: what can we learn from the Korean cloning fraud?. J Med Ethics. 2008;34(3):214-221.
Stem Cell Club – Beverley Rabbitts (Chemical Screening Center) + Chuan Yu (CIRM)
December 6th, 2023 – BIOMED200
The IBSC Stem Cell Club is thrilled to present:
Presentations:
Chuan Yu (CIRM)
Presentation Title: “Investigation of the cell of origin of bladder cancer using new mouse models”
A little about the Speaker: Chuan is a postdoctoral researcher and current CIRM Trainee from Professor Zhu Wang’s lab, working in the area of bladder cancer research, a pivot from the lab’s traditional focus on prostate cancer. Chuan’s work investigates the cell of origin in bladder cancer and its molecular mechanisms, utilizing novel bladder cancer models. These origin cells may hold the key to understanding different cancer subtypes and patient outcomes. Challenged by the resistance of urothelial cells to oncogenic transformation and a lack of mouse models, Chuan employs a unique method combining genetic lineage tracing with CRISPR-based mouse models. This approach aims to uncover how the cell of origin influences the progression of bladder cancer.
Beverley Rabbitts (Guest Speaker)
Presentation Title: “Enhancing stem cell research with assay miniaturization, robotics, and single cell bioinformatics.”
A little about the Speaker: Beverley is the Director of Operations at the UCSC Chemical Screening Center. She is a cell biologist and biochemist, with a PhD from Johns Hopkins. She is excited to teach trainees hands-on in the CSC core facility, making astounding state-of-the-art technologies and skills accessible to all.
Stem Cell Club – Alka Gupta (CIRM) – “Paternal epigenetic inheritance: How does the father’s lifestyle affect the next generation?”
October 18th, 2023 – BIOMED300
The IBSC Stem Cell Club is thrilled to present:
Alka Gupta (CIRM) + TBD
Presentation Title:
Paternal epigenetic inheritance: How does the father’s lifestyle affect the next generation?
Stem Cell Club Location:
BIOMED300
Time:
12:00pm
General Research Focus:
Understanding how does the external environment regulate the sperm RNA payload and what are the functions of these sperm small RNAs in early embryonic development.
Location
Biomed200 (Map of Building Location)
Time
TBD
Guest Speaker:
Antonion Korcari, Ph.D.; Scientist III, Regenerative Medicine, Genentech, Inc.
Presentation:
“Multiscale Cellular and Molecular Regulators of Tendon Homeostasis and Aging”
About the Speaker:
Tony Korcari obtained his PhD in the department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Musculoskeletal Research from the University of Rochester in 2022, where he investigated the role of Scleraxis-lineage (Scx Lin ) cells during tendon homeostasis and tendon healing. Tony then continued on as a Postdoc investigating age-related impairments of the tendon cell communication, genomics, and epigenomics at the Center for Musculoskeletal Research; University of Rochester Medical Center. Since October 2022, Tony has served as a Scientists III at within the Regenerative Medicine department of Genentech where he work on targeting pro-inflammatory IFNγ and promoting stem cell function for restoration of age-related declines in the regenerative response of the mouse intestine to infection.
Location
Biomed200 (Map of Building Location)
Time
12:00pm – 1:00pm (PST)
Guest Speaker:
Brian Mullen, Ph.D.
T32 Postdoctoral Fellow; Feldheim Lab, UCSC
Presentation:
“Population coding in the Mouse Superior Colliculus”
About the Speaker:
Brian Mullen received his Ph.D. in the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Department at UCSC Santa Cruz. Brian’s dissertation focused on the functional mapping of the mouse neocortex during postnatal development, and following completion of his Ph.D. began his Postdoctoral work in the Feldheim lab here at UCSC and currently is a T32 Postdoctoral fellow in the Feldheim lab investigating circuit dynamics involved in auditory processing.
JOINT SESSION – UCSF and Stanford University
Location
Biomed200 (Map of Building Location)
Time
12:00pm – 1:00pm (PST)
Guest Speakers:
Sherry Li Zheng – 3rd year Ph.D. Candidate; Loh Lab, Stanford University
Presentation:
“Arteries give rise to blood-forming stem cells”
About the Speaker:
I’m a third year PhD candidate studying stem cell and developmental biology in Kyle Loh’s lab at Stanford. In the Loh lab, I work on directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into multiple lineages, including the hematopoietic (blood) lineage. My talk will focus on our lab’s efforts to identify a cellular precursor for blood-forming hematopoietic stem cells in vivo, and how we plan to use this knowledge to generate hematopoietic stem cells in vitro.
Jonathan Bayerl, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral fellow; Laird Lab, UCSF
Presentation:
“Naked Mole-Rats in a dish – A novel iPSC-based tool to understand mechanisms of heterochrony, longevity and reproductive lifespan”
About the Speaker:
Originally from a small town close to Vienna in Austria, I earned a BSc. in Biomedical Engineering and a MSc. degree in Biomedicine and Biotechnology in Vienna conducting research at the IMBA Vienna (Institute of Molecular Biotechnology Vienna). Afterwards, I pursued my PhD degree at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel in the lab of Jacob Hanna working on human naive pluripotency and interspecies chimaerism. Currently as a postdoc fellow in the Laird lab, I am focusing on studying the link between fertility and reproductive aging using the naked-mole rat model organism and I am trying to find avenues to reset the aging clock by applying stem cell-based methodologies to answer questions related to reproductive biology and aging at hand. Outside the lab, I love to take my mountain bike across the lands surrounding SF. Moreover, I am a water rat as I am a passionate surfer, sailor and diver and generally sports-addict. That’s why I am passionate baker for protein-rich cakes, cookies and energy bars.
Location
Biomed300 (Map of Building Location)
Time
12:00pm – 1:00pm (PST)
Invited Speaker: Rohit Nagare, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Dept. of Obestetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago
Title: “Ovarian cancer: Origin and Stem cells”
Past Meetings: 2021-2022
Location
Biomed200 (Map of Building Location)
Time
12:30pm – 1:30pm (PST)
Invited Speaker A: Rut Molinuevo Llaria, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Hinck Lab @ UCSC
Title: “DNA damage regulates endometrial endoreplication”
Invited Speaker B: Victor Tse
Affiliation: Sanford Lab @ UCSC
Title: “Designing RNA Drugs for Inherited Diseases”
Speaker: Dr. Abhimanyu Thakur
Lab: Dr. Huanhuan Joyce Chen (University of Chicago)
Title: Exosome: A tiny nanovesicle as non-invasive liquid biopsy platform for cancer diagnosis
Speaker: Dr. Xinyue Chen (Gladstone Institutes)
Lab: Dr. Leor Weinberger
Title: A DNA repair pathway can regulate transcriptional noise to promote cell fate transitions
Speaker: Dr. Jess Sevetson (UCSC)
Lab: Drs. Salama/Haussler
Title: Advancing stem cell based organoid models of brain development
Speaker: Dr. Christina Termini
Lab: Dr. John Chute
Title: Syndecan-2 expression enriches for hematopoietic stem cells and regulates stem cell repopulating capacity
Speaker: Dr. Gina Mawla
Lab: Dr. Olena Vaske
Title: Comparative RNA-sequencing analysis enables individualized treatments for pediatric cancers
Speaker: Dr. Ashley Webb
Lab: Webb lab at Brown University
Title: Mechanisms of neural stem cell aging
Speaker: Dr. Kelsie Rodriguez
Lab: Dr. Rubin (UCSC)
Title: Identifying CDK2 interacting proteins in embryonic stem cells
Speaker: Dr. Thomas Ambrosi
Lab: Dr. Charles Kwok Fai Chan
Title: Skeletal Stem Cells in Space and Time: Deciphering Stem Cell Biology to Target Skeletal Aging and Disease
Speaker: Dr. Valerie Cortez
Lab: Dr. Valerie Cortez (UCSC)
Title: Crypt-to-tip dynamics: goblet cell migration and maturation
Speaker: Dr. Jelena Perovanovic
Lab: Dr. Dean Tantin (Recursion and the Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah)
Title: Oct1 recruits histone modifiers to drive mesoderm lineage specification
Speaker: Kendy Hoang (PhD candidate)
Lab: Dr. Bin Chen (UCSC)
Title: Lineage progression of embryonic neural stem cells in the developing cerebral cortex
Joint meeting with Stanford University and UCSF
Speaker: Dr. Ajay Kumar
Lab: Dr. Y. Joyce Liao (Stanford)
Title: Stem “Cell-Free” Therapy To Preserve Vision: A New Paradigm in Regenerative Medicine
Speaker: Dr. Sangeetha Kandoi
Lab: Dr. Deepak A. Lamba (UCSF)
Title: Modeling autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa associated with copy number variants in rhodopsin and rescue using Photoregulin3 in patient-specific retinal organoids
Speaker: Dr. Benjamin Topacio
Lab: Dr. Ali Shariati (UCSC)
Title: Elucidating the dynamics and regulation of MAPK signaling in embryonic stem cells
Joint meeting with Stanford University and UCSF
Speaker: Carolyn Dundes
Lab: Dr. Kyle Loh (Stanford)
Title: A New Model: Is the brain formed from two separate cellular origins?
Speaker: Dr. Deniz Gökbuget
Lab: Dr. Robert Blelloch (UCSF)
Title: Phasic Transcriptional Repression Protects Genome Integrity In Embryonic Stem Cells
Speaker: Donna Poscablo
Lab: Dr. Camilla Forsberg (UCSC)
Title: An age-specific platelet differentiation pathway arising from hematopoietic stem cells
Speaker: Hannah Yan (Baylor College of Medicine)
Lab: Dr. Katherine King
Title: The bacterial microbiota promotes normal hematopoiesis by metabolite-induced type I interferon signaling pathway
Speaker: Dr. Shaheen Sikandar (UCSC)
Lab: Dr. Shaheen Sikandar
Title: Molecular regulators of normal and malignant mammary stem cells
Past Meetings: 2020-2021
Speaker: Dr. Bryce Manso
Lab: Postdoc at Forsberg Lab at UCSC
Title: “Determining how inflammation controls age-specific platelet production by hematopoietic stem cells”
Speaker: Dr. Li Xin
Lab: PI at Xin Lab at Washington University
Title: TBD
Speaker: Ryan Hoffman (rnhoffma@ucsc.edu)
Lab: Grad Student at Haussler-Salama Lab at UCSC
Title: “Using stem cell derived organoids to understand the ventricle’s role in human forebrain development”
Speaker: Dr. Srinjan Basu, PhD (srinjan@srinjan.com)
Lab: Group leader in stem cell science at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute
Title: Probing genome organisation and dynamics in pluripotent cells at the single-cell and single-molecule level
Speaker: Tisha Bohr, Ph.D. (tishabohr@gmail.com)
Lab: Postdoc at Adler lab at Cornell University
Title: “Planarian stem cells sense the identity of missing tissues to launch targeted regeneration”
Speaker: Shaheen Sikandar, Ph.D (ssikanda@ucsc.edu) – POSTPONED
Lab: PI at Sikandar Lab at UCSC
Title: “A minority population of immature cells in breast cancer initiates metastasis”
Speaker: Sudhir Thakurela, Ph.D. (sudhir_thakurela@harvard.edu)
Lab: Postdoc at Alex Meissner lab at Harvard Stem Cells and Regenerative Biology
Title: “When do differentiating stem cells establish a barrier to reprogramming?
Speaker: Gerrald Lodewijk, Ph.D. (gjlodewi@ucsc.edu)
Lab: Shariati Lab at UCSC
Title: “A primate-specific KRAB zinc finger gene linked to brain development affects HES1 autoregulation”
Speaker: D’Juan Farmer, PhD (djuanfar@usc.edu)
Lab: Postdoc at Crump Lab at USC
Title: Molecular and cellular control of skeletal progenitors in the vertebrate skull
Speaker: Rut Molinuevo Llaria, PhD (rmolinue@ucsc.edu)
Lab: Postdoc at Hinck Lab at UCSC
Title: Physiological DNA damage regulates endoreplication and milk production during lactation
Speaker: Liz Kirby, Ph.D. (kirby.224osu@gmail.com)
Lab: PI at < a href="https://u.osu.edu/kirbylab/">Kirby Lab at The Ohio State University
Title: “Adult neural stem cells shape their niche through a potent secretome.”
Speaker: Paola Angulo (pangulo@ucsc.edu) and Natalie Fillipi (nmfilipp@ucsc.edu)
Lab: Junior specialists (previous undergraduates) at Haussler-Salama Wet Lab at UCSC
Title: “Do retrovirus invasions shape human evolution and early development?”
Speaker: Matthew Bell (mbell@nexusscientific.com)
Lab: Technical Sales Specialist at NanoLive
Title: “Label-free 3D Live Cell Imaging in Drug Discovery: Introducing the CX-A, saying good bye to phototoxicity and end point assays”
Speaker: Quinton Smith, PhD (qbsmith@mit.edu)
Lab: Smith lab at UC Irvine
Title: TBD
Speaker: Clara Lopes Novo, PhD (c.lopes-novo@imperial.ac.uk)
Lab: Research Fellow at Imperial College London
Title: “Heterochromatin organization in embryonic stem cells”
Speaker: Shaheen Sikandar, Ph.D (ssikanda@ucsc.edu)
Lab: PI at Sikandar Lab at UCSC
Title: “A minority population of immature cells in breast cancer initiates metastasis”
Speaker: Melanie Eckersley-Maslin, Ph.D. (eckersleym@babraham.ac.uk)
Lab: Senior Postdoc at Babraham Institute in UK, soon to be group leader at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Australia
Title: “Epigenetic priming of early embryonic cell fate transitions”
Speaker: Eric Martin, M.S. (ewmartin@ucsc.edu)
Lab: Grad Student at Forsberg Lab at UCSC
Title: “Indecision 2020… epigenetics and fate decisions in hematopoiesis.”
Stem Cell Club Speaker Request Form