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Biographies
 Gregor B. Adams, PhD obtained his BSc in Molecular Biology at the University of Edinburgh and his PhD from Imperial College School of Medicine, London where his research focused on stem cell based gene therapy for HIV-1 infection. He performed his post-doctoral research at Massachusetts General Hospital under the mentorship of David Scadden. Their work demonstrated the key role of the osteoblast in the HSC niche and provided a proof of concept that therapeutic effects can be achieved through targeting of the niche, rather than the stem cell directly. Gregor is currently an Instructor in Medicine at MGH where his research is still focused on the hematopoietic stem cell microenvironment.
Dan Collins, Education: M.S.P.H. : Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1980; Ph.D. : Louisiana State Medical Center – New Orleans, LA, 1984; Post Doctoral Fellowship : Wake Forest University, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, 1984-1986; Faculty Appointment: Texas Tech University- Amarillo Medical Center; Director of the SIHO Laboratory- Harrington Cancer Center 1986-1988. Employment: Coulter Corporation, Manager of Hematology Laboratory, Coulter Immunology, 1988-1989; R&D Systems, Director, Flow Cytometry Division, 1989-1993; BioE, Inc. Executive Vice President/Chief Scientific Officer/Founder Founded in December 1993 to current.
 Julie Daniels obtained her first degree in Microbiology and her PhD in Tissue Engineering from the University of Leeds. After joining the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology in 1996 as a post-doctoral research fellow, she went on to take up the position of Lecturer in 2002. Her research team aims to understand the biology and therapeutic potential of stem cells. Julie is also the Director of the Moorfields Eye Hospital Cells for Sight Tissue Bank which is delivering stem cell therapy to patients suffering from blinding ocular surface disease. The success rate for this clinical programme is currently at 70%. Julie’s research is supported by UK Research Council and charitable funding.
 Cosimo De Bari is an MRC Clinician Scientist and Senior Lecturer in Rheumatology, heading a unit of stem cell research for skeletal tissue repair in the Rheumatology Dept. at King’s College London, UK. Dr De Bari completed his medical studies and the specialisation in Rheumatology at the University of Bari (Italy). In 2003 he obtained his PhD from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) under the tutelage of Professor Frank P. Luyten. Dr De Bari has identified and characterized multipotent mesenchymal stem cells from the adult human synovial membrane and is currently investigating their niche(s) in vivo.
 Fred H. Gage, Ph.D., a Professor in the Laboratory of Genetics, joined The Salk Institute in 1995. He received his Ph.D. in 1976 from The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Gage's work concentrates on the adult central nervous system and unexpected plasticity and adaptability to environmental stimulation that remains throughout the life of all mammals. In addition, his studies focus on the cellular, molecular, as well as environmental influences that regulate neurogenesis in the adult brain and spinal cord. Prior to joining Salk, Dr. Gage was a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Gage also served as president of the Society for Neuroscience in 2002. In addition, Dr. Gage has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, among them the 1993 Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievements in Health and Education, the Christopher Reeve Research Medal in 1997, the 1999 Max Planck Research Prize, and the MetLife Award in 2002.
 Anders Haegerstrand was awarded a Ph.D. in the area of neuroscience from the Karolinska Institute in 1990, where he subsequently was performing transplantations of cultured epidermal cells, vascular endothelial cells and cartilage cells to more than 50 patients in Sweden and Europe. Between 1995 and 1999, Dr Haegerstrand served as Project Manager and co-Manager at Astra, where he was responsible for the company's collaboration with CytoTherapeutics Inc. US. From 1996 to 1999, Dr Haegerstrand was VP, Head of Discovery at Astra Pain Control AB. Prior to joining NeuroNova, Dr Haegerstrand served as VP Global Manager within the CNS and Pain Research Area at AstraZeneca PLC. Dr Haegerstrand joined NeuroNova in 2000.
Robert Harman founded and is the CEO of Vet-Stem, the first US-based commercial veterinary stem cell company. For 15 years prior to that, he was the CEO of HTI-Bio-Services, a preclinical research company for veterinary and human pharmaceutical development. He has authored more than 500 contract study reports for animal health companies throughout the world and for submission to the FDA and USDA in support of the development of new animal health products. In his current position, he is the founder and principal clinical development director of the programs at Vet-Stem to bring stem cell therapy to veterinary medicine. He has been a frequent speaker at human stem cell conferences in North America and Europe. EDUCATION Bachelor’s Degree, Animal Science, University of California, Davis, ‘75 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, ‘82 Master’s Preventive Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, ‘83 WORK CEO, Co-founder Vet-Stem, Inc – 2002-Present CEO & Founder, Anaconda Veterinary Research Chairman and Managing Partner, Animal Health Ventures, Inc. CEO & Founder, HTI Bio-Services, Inc CEO & Founder, HTI Bio-Products, Inc. Owner, RJ Harman DVM Veterinary Practice Lifetime horseman.
 Maya Sieber-Blum has studied natural sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich and at the University of Basel. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and is currently Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
Alan K. Smith, Ph.D. is President & Chief Operating Officer of Cognate Bioservices. Dr. Smith has over 20 years of combined experience in the biotechnology industry with the vast majority of that time spent in the cellular therapeutics area. Prior to joining Cognate, Dr. Smith served as Chief Operating Officer at Osiris Therapeutics and played a key role in devising clinical and regulatory strategies for the Company. From 1995 through 2000, Dr. Smith served as Vice President of Research, at Aastrom Biosciences, Inc., where he was responsible for development of processes for ex vivo expansion of bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, T-cells, dendritic cells and other cell types for therapeutic use. Prior to that, Dr. Smith worked at Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., at Baxter Healthcare Corporation, at BioSpecific Technologies, Inc. and HyClone Laboratories. Dr. Smith received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Utah State University.
Ralph Snodgrass has a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and has over 13 years experience in senior biotechnology management and over 10 years research experience as a professor at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine, and as a member of the Institute for Immunology, Basel, Switzerland. Dr. Snodgrass is a well published and recognized pioneering expert in stem cell biology with more than 20 years experience in the uses of stem cells as biological tools for drug discovery.
 Thomas Zwaka is an assistant professor in the Dept. of Molecular & Cellular Biology and The Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. As an M.D., Ph.D. from the Univ. of Ulm with postdoctoral training in both molecular cardiology (with V. Hombach, Ulm) and in human and mouse embryonic stem cell research (with J. Thomson, Wisconsin), Zwaka maintains a futuristic, yet realistic, view of the powerful paradigm about to transform modern health care… Regenerative Medicine. Combining the humanistic overview of a practicing physician with the intricate insight of a well-respected scientist, Zwaka is focused on efforts to harness the pluripotential powers of embryonic stem cells utilizing directed, active differentiation. At the same time, his group is exploring strategies for reprogramming somatic cells into pluripotent cells using direct transcription factor manipulation. Fluent in Polish, German, and English, Zwaka is a popular public speaker, both nationally and internationally. He predicts that the field of Regenerative Medicine will be a multidisciplinary, covariant field which will, within the very near future, administer the cures to such chronic diseases as diabetes, spinal cord injury, Parkinson's, ALS, Alzheimer's, cardiac disease and many others using cell replacement therapy. Zwaka is happily married with two young children. One of his favorite quotes is from Einstein, "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
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