Disease Modeling Using Advanced Cell Models and Cell-Analysis Platforms

Alyson R. Muotri, Ph.D.
University of California San Diego, School of Medicine
San Diego, California

Dr. Muotri is a professor at the Departments of Pediatrics and Cellular and Molecular Medicine at University of California San Diego, where he is also the director of the Stem Cell Program and Archealization Center. Dr. Muotri earned a B.Sc. in biological sciences from the State University of Campinas in 1995 and a Ph.D. in genetics in 2001 from University of Sao Paulo, in Brazil. He moved to the Salk Institute as a Pew Latin America Fellow in 2002 for a postdoctoral training in the fields of neuroscience and stem cell biology. His research focuses on brain evolution and modeling neurological diseases using human induced pluripotent stem cells and brain organoids. He has received several awards, including the prestigious NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation’s NARSAD Young Investigator Grant, the Emerald Foundation Young Investigator Award, the Surugadai Award, Rock Star of Innovation, the NIH EUREKA Award, and two Telly Awards for Excellence in Science Communication, among several others.

Paola Arlotta, Ph.D.
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusett

Dr. Arlotta is the chair and Golub Family Professor of Harvard’s Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and an associate member of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute. Her research program explores the interface between development and engineering of the neocortex, in order to gain fundamental understanding of the principles that govern normal cortical development and of previously inaccessible mechanisms of human neurodevelopmental disease using 3D cerebral organoids. Her research has been published and widely cited in many noteworthy journals, including Nature, Science, Neuron, and Nature Neuroscience.

Rachel Natrajan, Ph.D.
The Institute of Cancer Research
London, United Kingdom

Dr. Natrajan is a team leader in the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London, United Kingdom. Her research interests focus on understanding the progression of aggressive, therapy-resistant forms of breast cancer, with the goal of identifying novel drivers and biomarkers and therapeutic targets of the disease. This work involves integrating the knowledge gained from studying the molecular makeup of primary patient material, using single-cell and spatial profiling. In tandem with modeling disease progression using complex patient-derived model systems, the lab aims to understand the molecular evolution of breast cancers and identify rationally guided therapeutic strategies to halt disease progression.