Katharine Spink, Ph.D., Vice President of Operations for Geron’s Regenerative Medicine

Aug. 30, 2010 - PRLog -- MONROVIA, CA Katharine Spink, Ph.D., Vice President of Operations for Geron’s Regenerative Medicine Programs, to speak at GTCbio’s 4th Advances in Stem Cell Discovery and Development Conference on Oct. 20-22, 2010 in San Francisco, CA.  

Dr. Spink will give a feature presentation on “GRNCM1: Human Embryonic Stem Cell-derived Cardiomyocytes for the Treatment of Heart Failure” at the 4th Advances in Stem Cell Discovery and Development Conference to be held this year in San Francisco, CA Oct. 20-22, 2010 by GTCbio.  Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the industrialized world. Cell therapies have unique potential for the treatment of heart failure through regeneration of cardiac tissue and restoration of cardiac contractility.  Among cell therapies, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are unique for their ability to generate bona fide human cardiomyocytes with high efficiency and scalable, cost effective production methods. She will discuss Geron’s GRNCM1 program, in which we are developing hESC-derived cardiomyocytes for the treatment of heart failure, including methods for high efficiency differentiation of cardiomyocytes from hESCs, characterization of the resulting cell population, preclinical data on cellular function, and next steps for the development of this product towards the clinic.

Katharine Spink, is Vice President of Operations for Geron’s Regenerative Medicine Programs.  Her responsibilities in this role encompass managing the daily operations of Geron’s project teams, including project management, budgeting, resource allocation, and strategic planning. Prior to Geron, Dr. Spink was with the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where she advised clients in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries on matters relating to R&D strategy, business development, and marketing. Dr. Spink holds a B.A. in biochemistry from Rice University, and a Ph.D. in cancer biology from Stanford University.

Also presenting at the Advances in Stem Cell Discovery and Development Conference are prestigious organizations including Fate Therapeutics, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), Geron, Stanford, UCB, City of Hope Medical Center, Cellartis AB, UCSF, Proteus Venture Partners, Sanofi-Aventis, UCSB, Aldagen, University of the Pacific, Novo Nordisk, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, UCSD, Sangamo, Merck, Advanced Cell Technology and other leaders in the Stem Cell Discovery and Development industry.

4th Advances in Stem Cell Discovery and Development Conference features a mixture of academic, industry and public sector experts in an intimate setting that favors the showcase of data, the exchanges of ideas and networking.  Professionals in the drug discovery industry and academics to can get an update of exciting new developments in assay technologies and exchange ideas in developing creative approaches in the drug discovery and development process to improve the efficiency and output. For more information, visit www.gtcbio.com.

The conference will be part of the 6th Modern Drug Discovery and Development Summit which will offer an in-depth examination of the challenges involved in the dynamic and ever-changing field of drug discovery and development. This summit includes a plenary keynote presentation and four concurrent tracks on: 4th Advances in Stem Cell Discovery and Development, 5th Biological Therapeutics Research and Development, 2nd Cancer Targets and Therapeutics and 4th Biomarker Discovery and Development. It will bring researchers, lab directors/managers, and industry executives the critical scientific, technology, and business coverage that they need.

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GTCbio organizes conferences specifically for the biomedical and biopharmaceutical industries. Our goal is to facilitate the exchange of biopharmaceutical and biomedical intelligence between industry leaders, academic and government organizations, and the financial community.