Ep#021: Treating Parkinson's Disease Using Patient's Own Stem Cells with Professor Jeanne Loring

Personalized Medicine Podcast

Welcome to the first episode of the Personalized Medicine Podcast in 2021. And what a guest do we have to kick-off this year!
In this episode, we dive deep into the world of stem cells with one of the most influential scientists in the field, Professor Jeanne Loring. Jeanne is a Professor Emeritus and a Director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Scripps Research. She made pivotal contributions to the field of stem cell research publishing 120+ papers on the topic. Jeanne is also a true veteran of the biotech industry working for some of the most important companies in the domain of stem cell therapeutics. Jeanne’s most recent venture is Aspen Neuroscience, a pharmaceutical company that develops cell replacement therapies for Parkinson’s disease based on a patient’s own induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
This episode is full of inspirational moments from Jeanne as she shares her experiences differentiating her own cells into beating cardiomyocytes and witnessing the delivery of organoids prepared in her lab to the International Space Station.
Together with Jeanne we discussed:
° Application of iPSCs in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease
° The founding story of Aspen Neuroscience
° Unexpected cost advantage of autologous vs allogeneic iPSCs
° Delivery systems for stem cell therapies
° Use of next-generation sequencing in quality control of stem cell therapies
° Logistics challenges in making iPSC-based therapies available
° Growing organoids at the International Space Station
° Future applications of iPSCs in drug screening and cell-replacement therapies
Make sure to listen until the very end of the episode, when Jeanne shares some very practical advice for aspiring young scientists.
Get in touch with Jeanne:
° LinkedIn: Jeanne Loring
° Twitter: @jeannefrances, @AspenNeuro
° Web: https://www.aspenneuroscience.com/
Make sure to download the full show notes with our guest's bio, links to their most notable work, and our recommendations for further reads on the topic of the episode at pmedcast.com