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| Click here to download the 2010 NYSCF Investigators Brochure |
The New York Stem Cell Foundation Investigator Program: Scientists leading their generation in stem cell research.
The NYSCF Investigator Program builds on the success of the NYSCF Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and provides five years of critical seed funding to outstanding early career scientists engaged in translational stem cell research, supporting them as they move beyond their postdoctoral training and into the next phase of their careers.
This funding will support the most promising and creative scientists as they focus their independent research on high-risk/high-reward stem cell-based research projects with the potential to accelerate the path from bench to bedside. Initial support for The NYSCF Investigator Program was provided by the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. The program was significantly expanded through a Robertson Foundation Grant.
Meet the NYSCF Investigators
 Valentina Fossati, PhD
2010 NYSCF-Helmsley Stem Cell Investigator The New York Stem Cell Foundation Dr. Fossati is using skin samples from patients with multiple sclerosis to create the oligodendrocytes affected by the disease. She previously worked on the development of the immune system, initially focusing on B lymphocytes, and as a postdoctoral fellow, on the generation of thymic epithelial cells from embryonic stem cells. Dr. Fossati received a NYSCF–Druckenmiller Fellowship in 2009. Valentina Fossati, PhD |  Takaki Komiyama, PhD
2011 NYSCF-Helmsley Neuroscience Investigator University of California, San Diego In September 2010, Dr. Komiyama joined the faculty of University of California, San Diego, as Assistant Professor in the Neurobiology Section and the Department of Neurosciences. During his postdoctoral training at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he pioneered the use of in vivo two-photon calcium imaging in mice performing a learned behavioral task. Takaki Komiyama, PhD |  Darja Marolt, PhD
2010 NYSCF-Helmsley Stem Cell Investigator The New York Stem Cell Foundation Currently, Dr. Marolt is working in the NYSCF Laboratory to develop tissue engineering approaches to repair and generate bone using stem cells. She has also spent time working at the Blood Transfusion Center of Slovenia and the MIT-Harvard Division of Health Science and Technology. She received a NSYCF-Druckenmiller Fellowship in 2007. Darja Marolt, PhD |  Gaby Maimon, PhD
2011 NYSCF-Robertson Neuroscience Investigator The Rockefeller University Dr. Maimon’s work focuses on the mechanisms of cognition and integrative brain function. He was the recipient of a Della Martin fellowship from The California Institute of Technology in 2006 and was named one of Popular Science magazine's "Brilliant 10" of 2011. Gaby Maimon, PhD |
 Shuibing Chen, PhD
2010 NYSCF-Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Weill Cornell Medical School Dr. Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York. She conducted her postdoctoral studies at Harvard University to study the directed differentiation of human embryonic stem cells toward the pancreatic lineage. Shuibing Chen, PhD |  Christopher Gregg, PhD
2011 NYSCF-Robertson Neuroscience Investigator University of Utah Dr. Gregg is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Utah, researching the function and regulation of imprinted genes expressed in circuits of the brain that modulate feeding and motivated behaviors. Dr. Gregg’s postdoctoral studies were carried out at Harvard University. Christopher Gregg, PhD |  Derrick Rossi, PhD
2010 NYSCF-Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Harvard University Since November 2007, Dr. Rossi has been a faculty member of the Immune Disease Institute and an Assistant Professor in the Pathology Department at Harvard Medical School. He did his postdoctoral work at Stanford University. Derrick Rossi, PhD |  Paul Tesar, PhD
2010 NYSCF-Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Case Western Reserve University Paul Tesar, PhD |
 Ed Boyden, PhD
2011 NYSCF-Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ed Boyden, PhD |  Marius Wernig, MD, PhD
2010 NYSCF-Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Stanford University Dr. Wernig is a member of the faculty of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the Department of Pathology at Stanford University. As a postdoctoral researcher at the Whitehead Institute, MIT, Dr. Wernig spearheaded one of the few research groups worldwide to successfully create pluripotent stem cells from mouse skin cells. Marius Wernig, MD, PhD |  Ravindra Majeti, PhD
2011 NYSCF-Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Stanford University Dr. Majeti is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, and Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University. In his independent laboratory, Dr. Majeti’s research focuses on the molecular/genomic characterization and therapeutic targeting of leukemia stem cells in human hematologic malignancies. Ravindra Majeti, PhD |  Paola Arlotta, PhD
2011 NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Harvard University Dr. Arlotta’s laboratory focuses on the investigation of mechanisms that control the development, regeneration and assembly of neurons in the cerebral cortex. Much of her work is aimed at identifying regenerative strategies for neurodegenerative and traumatic diseases of the corticospinal tract, including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and spinal cord injury. Paola Arlotta, PhD |
 Gabsang Lee, PhD
2011 NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Johns Hopkins University School Of Medicine Dr. Lee is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he continues his research on Familial Dysautonomia. During his postdoctoral training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center he established a novel methodology for direct derivation and prospective isolation of neural crest cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells. Gabsang Lee, PhD |
