Speaker Profile
M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chief, Divisions of Medical Genetics and Craniofacial Anomalies, UCSF
Biography
Ophir Klein attended UC Berkeley as an undergraduate and received a Ph.D. in Genetics and an M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine. He completed residencies at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Pediatrics and at UCSF in Clinical Genetics. Dr. Klein has received several honors, including the E. Mead Johnson Award from the Society for Pediatric Research and election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Klein’s research focuses on understanding how organs form in the embryo and how they regenerate in the adult, with a particular emphasis on the processes underlying craniofacial and dental development and renewal as well as understanding how stem cells in the intestinal epithelium enable renewal and regeneration. He is also leading the nascent efforts to develop a program in Pediatric Precision Medicine at UCSF.
Talk
Developmental Biology As A Blueprint For Regenerative Medicine
A central challenge facing regenerative medicine is the development of strategies for organ regeneration and repair, and an important next step is to understand how mammals naturally use stem cells to renew and heal tissues. I will present data from our recent work focusing on stem cells in organs that undergo constant renewal and will conclude by discussing how the power of stem cells can be harnessed to treat human disease.
