The HD View ~ Dr. Jan Nolta's Update

Monday, March 12, 2012

Our incredible special guest is Jan A. Nolta, Ph.D., the Director of the Stem Cell Program at UC Davis School of Medicine, and directs the new Institute for Regenerative Cures. The UC Davis stem cell program has over 150 faculty members collaborating to work toward stem cell-related cures for a spectrum of diseases and injuries.

Dr. Nolta’s laboratory focuses on “bench to the bedside” research, and she has been involved in numerous clinical trials of cell therapy. In 1994 she developed her passion for cellular therapy by assisting with the first umbilical cord blood stem cell gene therapy trials for newborns with “bubble baby disease”, with her mentor Donald Kohn at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

A scientist with more than 20 years’ experience with human stem cells, Dr. Nolta has published over 100 manuscripts in the stem cell field and has authored 25 book chapters. She has served on over 200 grant review panels for the National Institutes of Health and other agencies, is Editor for the Journal “Stem Cells” and was editor of the Book "Genetic Engineering of Mesenchymal Stem Cells".

Dr. Nolta is a native of northern California and is extremely happy to be back in the area, since being recruited back to UC Davis from Washington University in 2007. The opportunity to help enhance stem cell research and development of therapies in her native Northern California was one of the leading draws to bring her back to the state.