The Safety Hub has established a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) including both senior academic and industrial experts to provide expert independent specialist advice of the Hub’s activities. The SAB will challenge the Hub in its development and delivery and advise on future strategy to ensure scientific excellence.
Members of the SAB include:
Professor Glyn Stacey (Chair), Director UK Stem Cell Bank, National Institute for Biological Standards and Control centre of the MHRA
Prof. Stacey has a background in microbiology and cancer research and has worked on the development of cell substrates for manufacture of biological medicines. He is currently Head of Division of Cell Biology and Imaging and Director for the UK Stem Cell Bank, a licensed clinical tissue bank, at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control at South Mimms, UK. The work of his group covers safety and quality issues in cell therapy, cells used for manufacturing purposes, development of novel cell-based assays and the development of reference materials for tissue typing and diagnosis of genetic disorders. This work includes the need for scale up of preservation techniques and long term storage of DNA and cell lines of various types including human stem cell lines and cells used in bioassays and vaccine production.
Professor Benjamin Dekel, Head, Pediatric Stem Cell Research Institute, Sheba Academic Medical Centre, Israel
Prof. Dekel is Head of the Pediatric Stem Cell Research Institute and Director of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at Edmond and Lili Children’s Hospital, Chaim Sheba Medical Center (largest in Israel). He is a tenured Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. He graduated with honors in Life Sciences and then Medicine from Technion, Haifa. He is known internationally as one of the most innovative and highly recognized investigators in the field of human renal stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. In the field of human kidney development and pediatric renal cancer, Prof. Dekel has pioneered the identification of human stem/progenitor cells and their use in tissue repair, regeneration and targeted therapy.
Dr Jospeh Bonventre, Chief of the Renal Unit and Director of the Bioengineering Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, USA
Dr. Bonventre has had a long-standing interest in various aspects of cellular injury and repair mechanisms in the kidney with a special emphasis on the role of inflammation, biomarkers and stem cells. He has established the origin of the epithelial cells that repair the kidney after injury as dedifferentiated surviving proximal tubule cells. He was the first to describe the role of proximal tubule cell cycle arrest in the maladaptive fibrosis that can occur after severe injury leading to chronic kidney disease. He discovered and characterized Kidney Injury Molecule-1 (KIM-1) as the most highly upregulated protein in the proximal tubule after injury to the kidney of various types. Kim-1 expression converts the proximal tubule cell to a phagocyte. Kim-1 is also a very sensitive and specific biomarker of proximal tubular injury in a variety of species including man and has been qualified by the FDA and European Medicines Agency as a sensitive and specific marker for kidney injury in preclinical studies of nephrotoxicity. He has created iPS cells from patients with adult onset polycystic kidney disease and are working on ways to differentiate cells down the kidney lineage.
Dr Sara Patel, Programme Manager & Head of Toxicology, ReNeuron
ReNeuron is a leading, clinical-stage stem cell business. Its primary objective is the development of novel stem cell therapies targeting areas of significant unmet or poorly met medical need.
Professor Louise van der Weerd, Assistant Professor, Leiden University Medical Centre
Professor van der Weerd is PI of the molecular imaging section, working on the development of novel molecular imaging and MRI techniques to study animal models of disease, with a focus on neurological disorders. The research group of Professor Van der Weerd is embedded in the Molecular Imaging Laboratories Leiden (MILL), a technology platform that combines the available expertise at Leiden University and LUMC for development, validation, and application of molecular imaging techniques.
