Dr. Pinar Mesci is the Global Head of Biomanufacturing and Biotechnology at Axiom Space, where she manages a portfolio focused on biomedical research programs including stem cells, tissue engineering, disease modeling, cancer research, and DNA-inspired nanomaterials. She talks about her early career developing brain organoid models, transitioning to the space industry, and how microgravity affects biological systems. She also discusses the future of low Earth orbit research and how new technologies can be transferred back to Earth. (40:55)

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iPSC-Derived Ovarian Support Cells – Fertilo is an ovarian support cell product that improves the in vitro maturation rate of human oocytes. (1:25)

Culturing HSPCs Ex Vivo – A nanoengineered 3D system improves HSPC multi-lineage differentiation and engraftment capacity. (13:30)

Spinal Core Repair Scaffolds – A nanoengineered extrusion-aligned tract promotes axonal reconnection, synapse formation, and locomotor recovery after spinal cord injury. (22:50)

Vascularizing Retinal Organoids – Transient vascular support enhances survival of retinal ganglion cells in organoids. (32:14)

Image courtesy of Dr. Pinar Mesci

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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 commercialization of cell and gene therapies. (41:50)

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Heart and Ganglion Development – Researchers fused human sympathetic ganglion organoids and heart-forming organoids to construct functional connections between the sympathetic ganglia and the heart. (2:38)

Periportal Liver Assembloids – Patient-specific periportal liver assembloids retain the histological arrangement, gene expression, and cell interactions of periportal liver tissue. (9:40)

PIEZO1 and Drug-Induced Cardiotoxicity – Restoring endothelial PIEZO1 protects against tyrosine kinase inhibitor-induced hypertension and cardiac dysfunction. (19:28)

Somite and Neural Tube Co-Development – Scientists developed human trunk-like structures that have morphologically organized somites and a neural tube that form through self-organized, endogenous signaling. (28:43)

Image courtesy of Dr. Deepak Srivastava

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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)

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Computers Made From Human Brain Cells – Researchers have shown that structured neuronal firing sequences appear in spontaneous activity of human and murine brain organoids. (2:37)

Organoids Replicate Vascular Pathology – Scientists have developed a blood vessel organoid model from Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome-mutant hESCs. (12:01)

Effects of Spaceflight on Stem Cells – Analyses of nine astronauts before, during, and after three short-duration International Space Station missions shows space-associated stem cell hallmarks of aging and resilience. (21:14)

The Role of Lysosomes in HSC Aging – Reversing lysosomal dysfunction restores youthful state in aged hematopoietic stem cells. (33:25)

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Hans Clevers

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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)

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Restoring Function After Spinal Cord Injury: In a non-human primate model of spinal injury, researchers grafted ESC-derived spinal cord neural stem cells and improved forelimb function. (2:00)

Improving HSC Expansion: Inhibiting ferroptosis augments the expansion of HSCs ex vivo. (11:40)

Cardiomyocytes and Macrophage Reprogramming: Injury-induced Clusterin+ cardiomyocytes promote neonatal heart regeneration by reprogramming macrophages. (21:27)

Bone Marrow Organoids: A 3D in vitro bone marrow model captures phenotypic, structural, and functional features of human endosteal bone marrow niches. (33:03)

Image courtesy of Dr. Thomas Vierbuchen

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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)

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Heart-Macrophage Assembloids – Human heart–macrophage assembloids enable the study of immune–cardiac interactions and the modeling of arrhythmias. (1:41)

Human Nucleus Basalis Organoids – Human nucleus basalis of Meynert organoids can fuse with human cortical organoids and are used to model neurodevelopmental disorders. (11:15)

A Brain Organoid Atlas – Scientists used iPSCs from patients with neurodevelopmental disorders to generate a brain organoid atlas. (20:19)

Human Cortex Development – Lineage tracing in human tissue samples provides insight into lineage relationships between cortical cell types. (28:03)

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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)

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Chromosomal Genes Linked to Heart Disease – Scientists identified HMGN1, a nuclear binding protein, as a key contributor to trisomy 21-related congenital heart defects. (1:46)

Questioning Common Technique for Assessing IVF Embryos – Live imaging of late-stage preimplantation human embryos suggests that abnormalities can arise at a later stage of development than previously thought. (14:14)

Vitamin C Protects Ovaries – Scientists have shown that oral vitamin C protects against ovarian aging in primates. (24:07)

Multi-Branching Cell Differentiation Trajectories – A new Hodge Laplacian model has advanced single-cell multimodal data analysis by providing highly reliable results for complex multi-branching trajectories. (33:58)

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Juan Melero-Martin.

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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)

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HSPC Aging in Space – Spaceflight reduces telomere maintenance and HSPC self-renewal. (1:50)

Modeling Myelin Repair – Brain organoids with integrated microglia enabled the investigation of demyelination and remyelination. (14:45)

Gastric Cancer Organoids – CRISPR screens with human tumor organoids revealed metabolic dependencies and synthetic lethal pairs. (25:55)

Gastroids to Model Stomach Development – This study reveals a principle for instructing gastric patterning and provides a platform for advancing knowledge of stomach organogenesis. (33:10)

Image courtesy of Dr. Lars Velten

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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 of PAX3-FOXO1 and DICER1 in tumorigenesis. (37:50)

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Transplanting Allogeneic Beta Cells – Researchers transplanted genetically modified allogeneic donor islet cells into a man with long-standing type 1 diabetes. (1:37)

Pig Liver Xenotransplantation – RNA sequencing highlights how innate immune cells may affect thrombotic and immune pathways after liver xenotransplantation. (12:03)

Chemical Reprogramming – A new method generates hCiPS cells from both cord blood and adult peripheral blood cells. (21:10)

T Cell Development – Soluble Notch agonists support T cell development in suspension bioreactor culture. (27:30)

Image courtesy of Dr. Mark Hatley

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