ISSCR 2023: Cedars-Sinai Scientists Who Sent Stem Cells Into Space Available for Interviews

Newswise — LOS ANGELES (June 12, 2023) -- Cedars-Sinai investigators studying the effects of space on stem cells will present their work at the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Annual Meeting June 14-17 in Boston, and are available for interviews throughout the conference. 

Leaders of the two-year enterprise—funded by a $2 million grant from NASA and overseen by Cedars-Sinai—will present details of their investigation into whether stem cells grow and differentiate more efficiently in space than on Earth.

“Throughout ISSCR, we will be discussing the potential—and possibilities—of conducting stem cell research in microgravity, and the basic science as well as the translational applications of doing biomedical research in space,” said Arun Sharma, PhD, a stem cell biologist in the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Center and Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai.

In the series of missions, the first of which took place June 9, astronauts with the International Space Station will manufacture induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The hope is that the missions will create a method for investigators to obtain large batches of stem cells.

Sharma will moderate a pre-meeting workshop titled Stem Cells in Space. He will also conduct an oral presentation on the topic and lead a public symposium titled Stem Cells at the Planetarium.

Clive Svendsen, PhD, executive director of the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute and professor of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine, and the current Treasurer of the ISSCR, will present the session IPS Cells in Clinical Trials: Ophthalmology. He will also speak at the Stem Cells in Space workshop and serve on one of the panels.

“We hope attendees will appreciate the immense potential of sending stem cells into space,” Svendsen said. “This is the ideal meeting to discuss with esteemed colleagues the current successes and vast unknowns of this work.”

In addition to the sessions mentioned above, Pablo Avalos, MD, a research scientist in Svendsen's laboratory, will lead a session within the Workshop on Clinical Translation: How to Successfully Conduct a First-in-Human Trial.             

Presenting posters at ISSCR 2023:

• Maria Gaby Otero, PhD—Human IPSC-Derived Dopamine Neurons on Organ-Chip to Model Parkinson Disease
• Alexandra Moser, PhD—Aging-Associated Changes in Plasma Proteome and Hippocampal Gene Expression Are Reversed by Treatment with iPSC-derived Mononuclear Phagocytes
• Michael Workman, PhD—Large-Scale Differentiation of iPSC-Derived Motor Neurons from ALS and Control Subjects 
• Madelyn Arzt—Protein-Encapsulated Doxorubicin Reduces Cardiotoxicity in hiPSC-Cardiomyocytes and Cardiac Spheroids While Maintaining Anticancer Efficacy
• Maedeh Mozneb, PhD—Multi-Lineage Heart-Chip Models Drug Cardiotoxicity and Enhances Maturation of Human Stem Cell-Derived Cardiovascular Cells
• Stephany Pohlman—Lenvatinib-Induced Inhibition of the VEGF Receptor Incites Cytotoxicity to Microvascular Endothelial Cells
• Patricia Del Rio—IPSC-Derived Macrophages as a Preventative Treatment for Knee Post Traumatic Osteoarthritis

Follow Cedars-Sinai Academic Medicine on Twitter for more on the latest basic science and clinical research from Cedars-Sinai.