The Stem Cell Podcast

Guest: Dr. Deepak Srivastava is the President of the Gladstone Institutes and Director of the Roddenberry Stem Cell Center. His lab is focused on the gene networks that guide cardiac development. He talks about their recent work investigating heart defects in Down syndrome and strategies for delivering therapies to the heart. He also talks about how to incentivize the development and commercializa...

Guest: Dr. Hans Clevers is a Professor of Molecular Genetics and Distinguished Group Leader at the University of Utrecht. In this episode, he discusses snake gut and lung organoids, transitioning from academia to industry, and the challenges and complexities of creating a cell therapy. (44:26) Featured Products and Resources: Registration and abstracts are open for the ISSCR 2026 annual meeting. R...

Guest: Dr. Thomas Vierbuchen is Assistant Professor of Developmental Biology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In this episode, he talks about using PSCs to model neurodevelopmental processes. He also discusses his  direct reprogramming  work and his lab’s recent study on  OTX2 in gastrulation . (42:02) Featured Products and Resources: Submit your abstract for ISSCR 2026! Explore ST...

Guest: Dr. Sumru Bayin is a Group Leader at the Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge. She talks about her work on regeneration in the neonatal mouse cerebellum and how cerebellar interneurons differentiate . She also discusses organizing a  workshop to facilitate collaborations in regenerative biology , and her memories of the late Sir John Gurdon. (40:30) Featured Products and Resource...

Guest: Dr. Juan Melero-Martin is an Associate Professor and the Endowed Chair in Cardiac Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital . His lab uses bioengineering principles to understand how vascular networks are formed and the mechanisms by which the vasculature modulates the engraftment and activity of various human stem cells. (42:03) Featured Products and Resources: Save time and stay current...

Guest: Dr. Carole LaBonne is the Erastus Otis Haven Professor of Molecular Biosciences at Northwestern University. Her lab studies  the genesis of neural crest stem cells at the level of the signaling pathways and transcription factors that comprise the neural crest gene regulatory network. They also study how these mechanisms contribute to exit from pluripotency and the subsequent lineage restric...

Guest: Dr. Paul Tesar is the Director of the Institute for Glial Sciences and the Dr. Donald and Ruth Weber Goodman Professor of Innovative Therapeutics at Case Western Reserve University. His lab uses PSCs to model neurological development and disease with a specific focus on oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. He talks about his work on oligodendrocyte maturation , advancing research into the comme...

Guest: Dr. Lars Velten is a Group Leader at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona. He talks about his research on  cell-state-specific enhancers in hematopoiesis  and  lineage tracing techniques to study blood aging . He also discusses combining generative AI with wet lab techniques and the advantages of risk-taking in basic research. (40:41) Featured Products and Resources: StemSpan™ Hem...

Guest: Dr. Alice Soragni is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. She talks about her work on patient-derived organoids and  how they can be adapted for drug screening . She also discusses how she transitioned from structural biology to research on protein aggregation and rare diseases, and the current social media landscape for scientists. (45:20) Featured Products...

Guest: Dr. Zhongwei Li is an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California. His lab focuses on kidney organogenesis with translational applications of kidney regeneration and disease modeling. He talks about his work on PSC-derived nephron progenitors and drug discovery applications for polycystic kidney disease. (40:12) Featured Products and Resources: Share your feedback and enter...

Guest: Dr. Mark Hatley is an Associate Faculty Member and Director of the Division of Molecular Oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. His research focuses on the developmental origins and genetic mechanisms of pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma. He talks about his work on pediatric oncology and the mechanisms that differentiate normal development from cancer. He also discusses the role...

Guest: Dr. Jeanne Loring is a Co-Founder of Aspen Neuroscience and Professor Emeritus at Scripps Research. She talks about  generating gametes  from the functionally extinct northern white rhinoceros, Aspen’s early days and its recent  clinical trial results  for Parkinson’s cell therapy, and sending her own stem cells into space. She also discusses the need for  genetic variation in i...

Guest: Dr. James Briscoe is a Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute and Editor-In-Chief of Development . His lab uses an interdisciplinary approach, including mice, chicks, and other models, to study developmental dynamics. He discusses his lab’s work on human trunk formation and his role as an Editor-In-Chief. (44:55) Featured Products and Resources: Enter to win a personalized lab co...

In June 2025, we attended ISSCR 2025, the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, in Hong Kong. We spoke with delegates about their research, their impressions of the meeting, and the most memorable research presented. They also discussed their experiences exploring Hong Kong. Featured Products and Resources: Wallchart: Reporting Practices for Publishing Results with hP...

Guests: Dr. Hongkui Deng is the Director of the Institute of Stem Cell Research at Peking University and Dr. Candice Liew is a Senior Scientist at Reprogenix Bioscience. In this special episode recorded in front of a live audience at ISSCR 2025 in Hong Kong, they discuss their groundbreaking study transplanting CiPSC-derived islets into a patient with type 1 diabetes . They talk about their approa...

In June 2025, Daylon and Arun attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s (ISSCR) annual meeting in Hong Kong, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the final of four episodes from the meeting. Sessions focused on cell therapy for spinal cord injury, immunocompatible pig organs, and community engagement. Featured Products and Resources:...

In June 2025, Daylon and Arun attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s (ISSCR) annual meeting in Hong Kong, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the third of four episodes, where Daylon and Arun discuss research on cell therapy for inflammatory bowel disease and hearing loss. They also talk about Dr. Jacob Hanna’s work on ex u...

In June 2025, Daylon and Arun attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s (ISSCR) annual meeting in Hong Kong, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the second of four episodes, where Daylon and Arun cover talks on animal models of regeneration and the public perception of in vitro gametogenesis. They also discuss work on CiPSCs for Typ...

In June 2025, Daylon and Arun attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s (ISSCR) annual meeting in Hong Kong, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the first of four episodes, where Daylon and Arun discuss updates from clinical trials for ALS, congenital heart disease, and Parkinson’s disease. They also talk about the Presidentia...

Guest: Dr. Maneesha Inamdar is the Director of the Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine and Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. Her lab uses comparative models, including mice, Drosophila , stem cell lines, and gastruloids, to study developmental biology. She talks about using embryo models to investigate teratogenicity, prioritizing ethnical...

Guests: Dr. Jacqueline Barry is the Chief Clinical Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, Dr. Kapil Bharti is a Senior Investigator at the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health, and Dr. Jack Mosher is the Scientific Director at the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). They discuss their work on the ISSCR’s Best Practices for the Development of Pluri...

Guest: Dr. Margaret “Peggy” Goodell is the Vivian L. Smith Chair in Regenerative Medicine and Director of the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center at Baylor College of Medicine. Her research focuses on HSC regulation and aging. She talks about her discovery of a side population of HSCs , as well as her work on DNMT3A mutation and clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential. S...

Guest: Dr. Sarah Teichmann is a Member of the Department of Medicine and Professor of Stem Cell Medicine at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute.  She talks about the plasticity of different cell types and developing whole-organ cell atlases for organs such as the thymus . She also discusses the Human Cell Atlas project and overcoming skepticism in its early days. Finally, she talks about integrating...

Guest: Professor Hank Greely is the Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law and Professor, by courtesy, of Genetics at Stanford University. He is also the Director of the Stanford Center for Law and the Biosciences. He talks about his career path into bioethics and ethical considerations for organoids, bodyoids, and embryo models. He also discusses the potential future of reproduction,...

Guest: Dr. Scott Younger is the Director of Disease Gene Engineering within the Genomic Medicine Center at Children’s Mercy Hospital. His research focuses on producing patient-derived cellular models to develop functional precision medicine. He talks about using personalized antisense oligonucleotides to reverse disease phenotypes in organoid models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy . He also d...