C. Randal Mills, Ph.D., president and CEO of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, (CIRM), will discuss the impact of investing in stem cell research at the next Lincoln Science Café at 7 p.m. on Monday April 13 at VEGA, 350 Canopy St. in Lincoln.
Prior to joining CIRM in 2014, Dr. Mills was president and CEO of Osiris Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in stem cell science. Under Dr. Mills’ leadership, Osiris developed the world’s first approved stem cell drug, remestemcel-L to treat graft versus host disease in children, a devastating complication of bone marrow transplantation that can be fatal.
Dr. Mills, a member of the stem cell agency’s grant review board for the past five years, was at Osiris for almost 10 years before stepping down last December. Prior to that he served in several executive leadership roles with RTI Biologics Inc., and was a founding member of that company’s predecessor, the University of Florida Tissue Bank.
He also served, at the appointment of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, as a voting member of the National Institutes of Health and AIDS Research Advisory Council and was vice chairman of the American Association of Tissue Bank’s Standards Committee.
Dr. Mills has a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and cell science and a Ph.D. in drug development from the University of Florida.
This Science Café is sponsored by the Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures and can be found on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/846283488744382/
It also is part of the 2015 Nebraska SciFest. For more information about this event and other Nebraska SciFest events go to: www.nescifest.com
Science Cafés involve a face-to-face conversation with a scientist about current science topics. They are open to everyone (21 and older), and take place in casual settings like pubs and coffeehouses. Each meeting is organized around an interesting topic of conversation. A scientist gives a brief presentation followed by a question and answer period.
For more information about Science Cafes, go to www.unmc.edu/sciencecafe. Podcasts of previous Science Cafes also are available on the website or available for download on iTunes here.
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