NCRM (NIH Center for Regenerative Medicine) lecture

Jeanne Loring, PhD is a Professor and the founding Director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Dr. Loring has held research and management positions at biotechnology companies including Hana Biologics, GenPharm International, Molecular Dynamics, and Incyte Genomics, and was most recently the Co-Director of one of the country's first NIH-funded Stem Cell Centers, at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, and the founder of a human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-based company.

Dr. Loring served as chair of an NIH clinical neuroscience study section, co-chair of NIH Neuroscience Blue Print and NIH Regenerative Medicine Road Map Workshops, and she is a member for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Regulatory and Ethics Board and the board of the University of Massachusetts Stem Cell Bank and Registry.

Dr. Loring has studied hESCs for more than a decade, and her basic research focuses on discovering the molecular basis of pluripotency and differentiation. She is developing an ethnically diverse panel of iPSCs for drug toxicity screening and works in collaboration with clinical researchers on translational projects, including efforts to prevent rejection of stem cell-derived transplants by inducing immune tolerance, understanding the developmental dysfunction underlying Fragile X/autism, and development of stem cell therapies for arthritis and Alzheimer disease. Her recent publications include the first single nucleotide-level DNA methylation map comparing undifferentiated and differentiated hESCs, the generation of the first Yoruba (Nigerian) iPSC line, and a study showing the lack of ethnic diversity in existing hESC and iPSC lines. She also publishes articles on the ethical and legal issues involved in human stem cell research.

Dr. Loring was director of two of the NIH Human Embryonic Stem Cell Training Courses and now directs one of the largest stem cell training programs in the country. She authored a popular laboratory manual for human stem cell research (Human Stem Cell Manual: A Laboratory Guide; Elsevier/Academic Press). She is a frequent speaker at town hall meetings, ethics symposia, and educational events for non-scientists, and is featured in a video presentation on the growth of “Stem Cell Tourism,” the dubious practice of offering unproven stem cell “therapies” to desperate victims of incurable disease
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgHBi1y1KG8