ReGEN Podcast

Our conversation with Arun Sharma, PhD, discusses his work as a stem cell biologist, focusing on cardiovascular biology and space biosciences. He is an associate professor at Cedars-Sinai and is affiliated with the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, the Smidt Heart Institute and the Cancer Institute and the Department of Biomedical Sciences. He is the director of the Center for Sp...

This episode of the reGEN Podcast features our conversation with Jennifer Graves, MD, PhD, who serves as a clinical professor of neurosciences and as a clinical trial expert with the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center Alpha Clinic at UC San Diego. Her work includes a focus on Multiple Sclerosis and emerging therapeutic applications for this and other neurological conditions with stem cells and rege...

This episode features Sheldon Morris, MD, MPH, and an overview of the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center where Morris serves as director. The Clinical Center at UC San Diego encompasses a wide scope of services and outreach, including the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Alpha Clinic, clinical trials, community engagement, CIRM grant application assistance and management. We di...

This episode features our conversation with Jonathan Thomas, PhD, JD, President and CEO of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Thomas was previously the chair of the CIRM governing board from June 2011 to March 2023 and has played an integral role in supporting patient-centric research, strategies and outcomes within the Alpha Clinic network and UC San Diego's Sanford Stem C...

Our conversation with Tannishtha Reya, PhD, reviews her work and publications on understanding the mechanisms that drive cancer initiation, progression, and therapy resistance. Her research also includes developing high resolution in vivo imaging approaches to map normal stem cell behavior and interactions within a living organism, to define how these change during cancer formation. Tannishtha is...

Our conversation with Leo D. Wang, MD, PhD, includes unique insights into novel discoveries and therapeutics for HIV, diabetes, cancer and other conditions.  As the director of the City of Hope Alpha Clinic, we discuss the innovative and collaborative nature of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Alpha Clinic network.  The City of Hope was the first of now nine CIRM Alpha Cli...

Dana Levin, MD, MPH, serves as the director of Space Medicine for Vast. As the International Space Station plans for decommission in 2030, Vast is an industry pioneer with developing the first commercial space station, Haven-1, for long-term human habitation of low Earth orbit. We discuss the implications of humans inhabiting space in this new frontier of opportunities, challenges, questions and i...

Our conversation this week is with Bruce Y. Lee, MD, MBA, a digital health and AI expert whose research focuses on AI systems modeling and other computer-aided approaches within the healthcare industry. Bruce has founded, built, and led multiple initiatives in systems science, AI, mathematical and computer modeling, digital health, operations research and science/health communications, including r...

Our conversation with Alysson Muotri, PhD, covers a broad scope of topics including his innovative work and discoveries in space-based research, Neanderthal DNA, and groundbreaking breakthroughs in regenerative medicine and indigenous plants found in the Amazon Rainforest.  Muotri serves as the director of the Sanford Integrated Space Stem Cell Orbital Research Center (ISSCOR) at UC San Diego's Sa...

This episode features our conversation with Tiffani Manolis, vice president and general manager of the cell biology business at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Our discussion highlights her passion for cell biology and innovative trends in the gene and cell therapy industry, with a focus on advancing technologies that support the development of life-changing therapeutics. Tiffani is an experienced leade...

Our conversation with Gene Yeo, PhD, MBA, features a deep dive into his innovative work with RNA, gene editing and intersection of stem cells and regenerative medicine. We discuss what's on the horizon for discoveries and industry-based opportunities. Yeo serves as the director of the Sanford Stem Cell Innovation Center with the goal to facilitate industry growth by leveraging research findings an...

This episode features our conversation with Julissa Gonzalez, MS, who serves as the clinical research data manager at the UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center. Her work helps frame and prepare insights into stem cell-related clinical trials. Our discussion explores information the public may not readily know about preparing for and administering therapeutics via clinical trials, includin...

Marisa Korody, PhD, serves San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance as a scientist in conservation genetics, working on the northern white rhino rescue project.  She works closely with collaborators at The Scripps Research Institute to optimize the production of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from banked rhino fibroblast cells in the Frozen Zoo® for potential use in assisted reproductive technologi...

This episode features our conversation with Alexis Komor, PhD, who serves as deputy director of the Sanford Stem Cell Innovation Center and assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC San Diego.  Not long after the discovery of CRISPR technology, Komor Identified how to edit DNA in a new, more precise way, down to a single base unit in the DNA sequence. Komor's contri...

This episode features a conversation Dan Kaufman, PhD, Director of the Sanford Advanced Therapy Center at the Sanford Stem Cell Institute, and his extensive background in the field of regenerative medicine.  At UC San Diego, Dr. Kaufman performs clinical work in hematology and blood and marrow transplantation. He also oversees the Advanced Cell Therapy Laboratory (ACTL), a cGLP/cGMP-compliant faci...

Our discussion in this episode features Alex Khalessi, MD, MBA, and his innovative work on the intersection between stem cell therapies, regenerative medicine, and neurological disorders.  He serves as co-director of the Brain Tumor and Neurorestoration Program at the Sanford Stem Cell Institute. Khalessi is the former president of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), and is chair of the D...

This episode is a robust conversation with Pinar Mesci, PhD, the Senior Program Manager for In-Space Manufacturing at Axiom Space. Our discussion includes her postdoctoral work with Alysson Muotri, PhD, at UC San Diego and her ongoing work leading and facilitating space-based research in low-Earth orbit. Previously, Dr. Mesci was a project scientist at UC San Diego studying human neurodevelopment...

The Sanford Stem Cell Institute's Bobby Gordon sits down with Joel Castellanos, MD, one of UC San Diego's premiere spinal cord injury researchers and practitioners.  He serves as one of the Alpha Clinic's Trial Experts, and as the associate clinical professor of anesthesiology at UC San Diego School of Medicine.  Our discussion includes his ideas and work formulating and building a foundational in...

This episode's conversation focuses on the innovative work of Dr. Catriona Jamieson, Director of the Sanford Stem Cell Institute at UC San Diego, and the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) launch.  This space research mission includes the Institute's testing of the efficacy of "rebecsnib" on tumor organoids derived from cancer stem cells of consenting patients with secondary acute myeloid leukemia, ovarian cancer, me...

This episode features our conversation with Sarah Karpen, PA-C, who serves as an APP supervisor with the Alpha Clinic, CRM service, and Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center at UC San Diego.  Sarah provides an overview for what it's like to participate in regenerative medicine and stem cell clinical trials from a patient perspective, and discusses our holistic, inter-disciplinary approach to healthcar...

This episode features Holly Young, MSc, who serves as the facility director of the Advanced Cell Therapy Laboratory (ACTL), as part of the Sanford Advanced Therapy Center at UC San Diego.  The mission of ACTL is to provide leading-edge services for the development and production of innovative cell therapy products, to support UC San Diego and other researchers in the transition from research and d...

This episode features our conversation with Dr Kenneth A. Savin, Chief Scientist at Redwire.  Dr. Savin was named to TIME's "2025 TIME100 Health List of the 100 Most Influential People in Global Health." We discuss his 20-plus year career and expertise in the pharmaceutical industry and his pioneering work accelerating cutting-edge space biotech research capabilities, leveraging microgravity to im...

Our conversation with Dr. Sheldon Morris, M.D., MPH, includes an overview of stem cells and some of the basics of regenerative medicine.  Our Stem Cells 101 episode provides listeners with high-level, foundational knowledge about research and therapeutic treatments, clinical trials and related work from Dr. Morris and his team at the UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute and the Sanford Stem Ce...

The Sanford Stem Cell Institute's Bobby Gordon sits down with Davide Marotta, Ph. D., program director of in-space biomanufacturing at the International Space Station National Laboratory (ISSNL), to discuss the innovative low-Earth orbit economy and the future of science in space. We also discuss ISSNL's collaborations with UC San Diego's Sanford Stem Cell Institute. Before joining the ISSNL in 20...

Jessica Pham — manager of Dr. Catriona Jamieson's lab at the University of California San Diego and Stellar Mission Specialist at it s Sanford Stem Cell Institute — has successfully prepared seven research payloads for transport to the International Space Station. There, astronaut - scientists have used the tumor organoids she create s from the stem cells of consenting cancer patients to better un...