Meet the ISSCR 2020 Team

Attending conferences is a key opportunity for networking with your peers and potential collaborators. For many of us at STEMCELL, going to ISSCR is the highlight of our year, whether we’re giving a talk, listening to your poster presentation, or introducing you to our newest products at our booth. Since we won’t get to see you face to face this year, we wanted to properly introduce you to our ISSCR 2020 team.

We asked each team member to share a bit about their scientific background and what makes them excited about ISSCR 2020.

Booth Representatives

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Lin Sun
Lin Sun
Account Manager, Cell Culture Products

“I look forward to seeing progress in cell therapy and tissue engineering research that is moving to the clinic.”

What’s your background?

PhD in biotechnology engineering. I focused on tissue engineering with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) for my PhD and PSC endothelial cell differentiation and evaluation during my postdoc.

Sean Newman
Sean Newman
Account Manager, Cell Culture Products

“Anyone that knows me well, knows that organoids get me going. I'm looking forward to the discussions on advancements in organoid technology, especially the one on the ethics of brain organoids.”

What’s your background?

BSc in molecular and cellular biology and physiology. During my time at UC, Irvine, I worked with Alzheimer’s disease patient hPSC-derived cerebral organoids and microglia co-cultures for neuroinflammatory-based disease modeling.

Jeff Keil
Jeff Keil
Account Executive, Cell Culture Products

“I'm really excited to see all of the latest stem cell-based methods for modeling COVID-19.”

What’s your background?

I have a PhD in neuroscience.

Ty Fletcher-Beals
Ty Fletcher-Beals
Account Manager, Cell Culture Products

“I’m excited about attending the virtual ISSCR this year because of the Special Interest Sessions, which were created especially in response to member requests.”

What’s your background?

PhD in biomedical sciences. I developed a cell-penetrating peptide that interrupted pro-inflammatory cytokine signaling pathways that cause septic shock.

Charlotte Yap
Charlotte Yap
Account Manager

“I am particularly interested to learn more about the latest advancements in cellular therapy and tissue engineering research.”

What’s your background?

PhD in stem cell biology and cell signaling. The Melbourne-based lab in which I completed my PhD was one of the early adopters of mTeSR1 medium when STEMCELL first opened its Australian branch.

Daniel Wong
Daniel Wong
Scientific Sales Representative, Cell Culture

“I'm looking forward to learning about all the exciting developments in the pancreatic beta cell development field and in stem cell-based strategies to address diabetes.”

What’s your background?

I have a PhD in stem cell biology, with a focus on diabetes.

Howon Kim
Howon Kim
Field Applications Scientist

“First Virtual ISSCR Meeting in the New Normal Era.”

What’s your background?

PhD in biological chemistry. I have extensive experience in reprogramming, differentiation, and genome editing of human pluripotent stem cells.

Ana Marin Navarro
Ana Marin Navarro
Scientific Sales Representative

“Stem cells may take over our lives, but they’ll never take our weekends! Excited to chat about your cell culture conditions.”

What’s your background?

My PhD was on "Disease modeling using human induced pluripotent stem cells." I have worked extensively with iPSCs: reprogramming, maintaining, and differentiating human iPSCs into neural crest, neural stem cells, and also 3D neural systems such as brain organoids.

Nadja Andrade
Nadja Andrade
Scientific Sales Representative, Cell Culture Products

“I am very excited about the Innovation Showcase and to see organoids applications for therapeutic development and screens!”

What’s your background?

PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology focused on neurodegenerative diseases (mainly ALS). I differentiated iPSCs into motor neurons to understand DNA damage mechanisms and drug screens using HCI. I also differentiated iPSCs into cerebral organoids for AAV transduction as a proof of concept for gene editing and tau expression (modeling Alzheimer’s).

Tom Allison
Tom Allison
Scientific Sales Representative

“I am very excited for the cellular identity sessions to learn how groups are using combinations of transcription factors (TFs) for programming/reprogramming of cells to clinically relevant cell types. Also, with the recent news that groups have made skin organoids that grow hair, I am really looking forward to seeing what other organs and systems people are producing in organoid formats. From lung to knee organoids, the field is progressing at an amazing speed!”

What’s your background?

I obtained my PhD in stem cell biology at the University of Sheffield. More specifically, I was looking at TFs in the early differentiation decisions of human pluripotent stem cells. From there I moved to a postdoc where I carried on my interest in TFs but from a slightly different angle, whereby I was trying to understand which TFs can rapidly generate and mature GABAergic interneurons in vitro.

Majib Jan
Majib Jan
Account Manager, Cell Culture Products

“I'm excited to see the Women in Science Panel Discussion!”

What’s your background?

MSc in biochemistry with an emphasis on differentiating iPSCs to skeletal muscle cells.

Eric Norris
Eric Norris
Account Manager, Cell Culture Products

“At ISSCR you get the feeling of standing at the brink of a new era in research that marries iPSC and organoid technologies to reveal new disease paradigms and identify novel therapeutics.”

What’s your background?

PhD in biology. My research involved understanding the underlying mechanisms involved in liver dysfunction and disease.

Brian Duff
Brian Duff
Technical Lead, Scientific Support Programs

“I am excited to take part in my first virtual ISSCR meeting, and I'm particularly interested to learn about the latest advances and applications in reprogramming as well as the use of stem cell products in the clinic.”

What’s your background?

PhD in cell biology from Institute of Technology, Tallaght (ITT) Dublin, followed by postdoctoral experience in drug development for various indications including cancer, fibrosis, and neuropathic pain. Experienced in iPSC reprogramming, maintenance, and differentiation.

Angela Zhang
Angela Zhang
Product Manager, Epithelial Cell Biology

“I look forward to meeting researchers working with organoids and seeing how we can enable them to answer scientific questions in new ways, or even ask new questions.”

What’s your background?

PhD in immunology from the University of Toronto, studying how immune responses can be induced to be protective in autoimmune and infectious diseases.

Amanda Tong
Amanda Tong
Scientific Marketing Specialist, Pluripotent Stem Cell Biology

"I'm excited to meet researchers and other specialists in the stem cell industry from around the world, and am looking for new opportunities to collaborate."

What’s your background?

Master in Business Administration and BSc in life sciences. I specialize in strategic marketing and believe scientific communications is a powerful tool for connecting the wider community and advancing science!

Matthew Hildebrandt
Matthew Hildebrandt
Associate Product Manager, Pluripotent Stem Cell Biology

“This is my first time attending ISSCR, and I’m excited have the opportunity to listen to and engage with researchers developing methods to expand the uses of hPSCs as a model system.”

What’s your background?

PhD in experimental oncology from the University of Alberta studying RNA biology in pre-implantation mouse development. I followed this with postdoctoral work at the Hospital for Sick Children, in Toronto, where I switched model systems to human iPS cells to study neurodevelopmental and cardiac disease models.

Sneha Balani
Sneha Balani
Product Manager, Immune Cell Culture

“I am looking forward to attending ISSCR to speak with researchers and industry partners about their methods to differentiate iPSCs to immune cells and other advancements in immune cell culture and towards immunotherapy.”

What’s your background?

PhD in interdisciplinary oncology from the University of British Columbia, studying clonal analysis of human mammary cell transformation and X-ray sensitivity.

Scientific Presenters

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Juan Hou
Juan Hou
Senior Scientist

“I am really excited to "meet" collaborators and hear new breakthrough discoveries in this large-scale virtual way.”

Where can we catch you at ISSCR?

At an Innovation Showcase on ‘Applications of Organoid and Organotypic Cultures in Infectious Diseases, Nephrotoxicity, and Highly Relevant Cell-Based Assay Development.

Andrew Gaffney
Andrew Gaffney
Senior Manager, Strategic Alliances

“I’m especially looking forward to seeing core facility updates at the COREdinates focus session and catching up with old friends and colleagues in the stem cell community.”

Where can we catch you at ISSCR?

At a COREdinates Focus Session on ‘Recent Insights and Trends in Pluripotent Stem Cell Research.

Philipp Kramer
Philipp Kramer
Senior Scientist

“I am excited about recent successes in the stem cell field. In addition, I want to understand the challenges researchers are facing and virtually discuss potential solutions at the meeting.”

Where can we catch you at ISSCR?

At an Innovation Showcase on ‘Applications of Organoid and Organotypic Cultures in Infectious Diseases, Nephrotoxicity, and Highly Relevant Cell-Based Assay Development’ and at my poster presentation on ‘High-Throughput-Compatible Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines into Kidney Organoids for Nephrotoxic Drug Screening.

Nooshin Tabatabaei-Zavareh
Nooshin Tabatabaei-Zavareh
Senior Scientist

“I am looking forward to ISSCR to share new exciting culture methods for differentiation of iPSCs to immune cells to advance development of immunotherapy applications.”

Where can we catch you at ISSCR?

At an Innovation Showcase on ‘Differentiating Immune Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells in Feeder- and Serum-Free Cultures.

Erin Knock
Erin Knock
Senior Scientist

“I am excited to listen to the Plenary Session on ‘Dissecting Organogenesis’ as well as the Concurrent Session on modeling neural development and disease. I'm hoping to learn more about how organoids can be used for disease modeling.”

Where can we catch you at ISSCR?

At an Innovation Showcase on ‘Advanced Brain Organoid Co-Culture Systems.

Martin Stahl
Martin Stahl
Scientist

“I'm excited to see the advances being made by the top minds in the field of stem cell biology and see the cutting-edge technologies and developments in the field.”

Where can we catch you at ISSCR?

At an Innovation Showcase on ‘Applications of Organoid and Organotypic Cultures in Infectious Diseases, Nephrotoxicity, and Highly Relevant Cell-Based Assay Development’ and at my poster presentation on ‘Methods for Media for the Differentiation of Human Intestinal Organoids and Organoid-Derived Monolayers.

Matthew Wong
Matthew Wong
Scientist

"I'm looking forward to seeing all the new innovations and research from the field this year."

Where can we catch you at ISSCR?

At my poster presentation on ‘Cloning, Gene Editing and Expansion of High-Quality Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Improve Through Medium Optimization.

Amanda Fentiman
Amanda Fentiman
Product Manager, Hematology

“I am excited to attend ISSCR for the first time, to speak with scientists about their hematopoietic stem cell research, and to hear updates from the experts on the movement of iPSC-based therapies to the clinic.”

Where can we catch you at ISSCR?

At an Innovation Showcase on ‘Optimized, Serum-Free, In Vitro Culture Conditions for CRISPR-Mediated Genome Editing of CD34+ Cells.

Eric Jervis
Eric Jervis
Principal Scientist

“I am excited to attend my first virtual meeting of this size. In particular, I really look forward to seeing all the recent progress in scaling up stem cell cultures to move from research to clinical testing. I hope to meet lots of interested researchers at my poster presenting recent work with TeSR™-E8-3D.”

Where can we catch you at ISSCR?

At my poster presentation on ‘Optimized Animal Component-Free Medium and Workflow for the Expansion of Human Stem Cells as Aggregates in Suspension Cultures.

ISSCR 2020 Virtual

Visit our virtual booth at this year’s global stem cell event. Browse new and upcoming products, try our game, or chat live with a representative.

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