This episode features Holly Young, MSc, who serves as the facility director of the Advanced Cell Therapy Laboratory (ACTL), as part of the Sanford Advanced Therapy Center at UC San Diego. The mission of ACTL is to provide leading-edge services for the development and production of innovative cell therapy products, to support UC San Diego and other researchers in the transition from research and development to clinically relevant manufacturing of cell therapy products; to improve patient treatments. Learn more at actl.ucsd.edu.

Hosted by Bobby Gordon, MA, MBA.

This episode was recorded on January 30, 2025 and information presented is current as of this date.

This episode features our conversation with Dr Kenneth A. Savin, Chief Scientist at Redwire. Dr. Savin was named to TIME's "2025 TIME100 Health List of the 100 Most Influential People in Global Health." We discuss his 20-plus year career and expertise in the pharmaceutical industry and his pioneering work accelerating cutting-edge space biotech research capabilities, leveraging microgravity to improve human health on Earth. At Redwire, Dr. Savin has overseen trailblazing investigations onboard the International Space Station (ISS) in partnership with NASA and the ISS National Laboratory. Redwire successfully bioprinted the first human knee meniscus and first live human cardiac tissue using its BioFabrication Facility on the ISS. These breakthroughs address challenges faced by millions of people worldwide through the application of organ transplantation and tissue therapy and advance the next generation of pharmaceutical therapies. Dr. Savin has coordinated groundbreaking protein crystallization investigations onboard the ISS with pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) and Bristol Myers Squibb using Redwire's in-space pharmaceutical lab, PIL-BOX, for improved drug development. These investigations have focused on various applications to address the world's most prevalent conditions, including antiviral, antifungal, and antiseizure applications, heart disease, and bone loss.

Hosted by Bobby Gordon, MA, MBA.

This episode was recorded on December 2, 2024, and information presented in this episode is current as of this date.

Our conversation with Dr. Sheldon Morris, M.D., MPH, includes an overview of stem cells and some of the basics of regenerative medicine. Our Stem Cells 101 episode provides listeners with high-level, foundational knowledge about research and therapeutic treatments, clinical trials and related work from Dr. Morris and his team at the UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute and the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center. Learn more at stemcells.ucsd.edu.

Hosted by Bobby Gordon, MA, MBA.

This episode was recorded on April 7, 2025, and information presented is current as of the date of this recording.

The Sanford Stem Cell Institute's Bobby Gordon sits down with Davide Marotta, Ph.D., program director of in-space biomanufacturing at the International Space Station National Laboratory (ISSNL), to discuss the innovative low-Earth orbit economy and the future of science in space. We also discuss ISSNL's collaborations with UC San Diego's Sanford Stem Cell Institute.

Before joining the ISSNL in 2022, Dr. Marotta worked as a scientist at the New York Stem Cell Foundation, where his research focused on developing advanced models of neurodegenerative diseases using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived brain organoids and tracking the effects of microgravity on them.

He received both bachelor's and master's of science degrees in biomedicine from the University of Palermo in Italy, and a Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology at University College London. He conducted post-doctoral research at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, where he worked on drug discovery and cancer evolution, and Columbia University in New York, where his research centered on hematopoietic stem cells and aging.

Dr. Marotta is the author of the newly released book "The Gravity of Innovation." Published in April 2025, it explores the revolutionary impact of space on science, technology, and industry.

Hosted by Bobby Gordon, MA, MBA. This episode was recorded Oct. 15, 2024; information presented was current as of the date of recording.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KGeB51tGlO0

Jessica Pham — manager of Dr. Catriona Jamieson's lab at the University of California San Diego and Stellar Mission Specialist at its Sanford Stem Cell Institute — has successfully prepared seven research payloads for transport to the International Space Station. There, astronaut-scientists have used the tumor organoids she creates from the stem cells of consenting cancer patients to better understand, predict, and treat disease progression, in partnership with researchers on the ground.

Host: Bobby Gordon, MA, MBA.

This episode was recorded on October 18, 2024 and information presented is current as of the recording of this episode.

Our conversation explores the work of John E. Dick, Ph.D., FRS, senior scientist and cancer research chair at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, of the University Health Network; professor of molecular genetics at the University of Toronto; and co-leader of the Acute Leukemia Translational Research Initiative at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.

Dick's research focuses on the role of stem cells in the development of blood and blood cancer. In the mid-1990s, Dick was the first to identify cancer stem cells, transforming our views on the origin and nature of cancer. Because cancer stem cells survive conventional chemotherapy treatment and regenerate, his discovery has important implications for cancer therapy.

Hosted by Bobby Gordon, MA, MBA. This episode was recorded Oct. 17, 2024; information presented was current as of the date of recording.

Our conversation with Jana Stoudemire, M.S., highlights her expansive career. Among her chief accomplishments: creating new market sectors in the low-Earth orbit economy, for in-space manufacturing of biomedical and advanced material applications.

Stoudemire transitioned away from pharma to help lead microgravity life science research at the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, which manages the International Space Station National Laboratory. She then joined Space Tango, where she established defining partnerships for an emerging in-orbit biomedical market.

Stoudemire is the former global director of in-space manufacturing for Axiom Space and serves as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space. She is also a member of the Regenerative Medicine Manufacturing Society, a National Stem Cell Foundation International Space Station program advisor, and a United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation Board of Trustees member. Additionally, she is a past New Organ Alliance Oversight Committee member and co-chair of the Microgravity Enabling Technology committee. In March 2025, she began work with Barrios Technology, a woman-owned and operated aerospace business.

Stoudemire served as co-editor of the book "In-Space Manufacturing and Resources: Earth and Planetary Exploration Applications," published in 2022 by Wiley.

Host: Bobby Gordon, MA, MBA.

Interview recorded October 18, 2024. Information presented herein is current as of the date of recording.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9lpugiWrvLY

Dr. Cech grew up in Iowa, attending Grinnell College (B.A.) and then UC-Berkeley (Ph.D.). After postdoctoral research at M.I.T., he joined the faculty of the University of Colorado Boulder in 1978. In 1982 Dr. Cech and his research group announced RNA self-splicing in Tetrahymena, providing the first exception to the long-held belief that biological reactions are always catalyzed by proteins. Dr. Cech became an HHMI investigator in 1988 and later president of HHMI (2000-2009). He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1989) and the National Medal of Science (1995) and has been elected to the U.S. National Academies of Science (1987) and Medicine (2000).

Episode Host: Bobby Gordon, MA, MBA.

This episode was recorded on 10-17-24 and the information discussed is current as of the date of the recording.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/q9XpnCfwaqQ

This episode features our conversation with Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor Emerita at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA. She won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 for discovering the molecular nature of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that serve as protective caps essential for preserving genetic information, and for co-discovering telomerase, an enzyme that maintains telomere ends. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Blackburn has received nearly every major award in science, including the Lasker, Gruber and Gairdner prizes. She was named to the "TIME 100" in 2007, the magazine's yearly list of the most influential people in the world. She is a member of numerous prestigious scientific societies, including the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and the Royal Society of London.

Episode Host: Bobby Gordon, MA, MBA.

Recorded October 18, 2024; during the annual Sanford Stem Cell Institute Symposium in La Jolla, CA.

All information presented in this recording is current as of the date of recording.