The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Eric Olson, Ph.D., professor and chair, department of molecular biology, Annie and Willie Nelson Professor in Stem Cell Research, Pogue Distinguished Chair in Research on Cardiac Birth Defects, Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Science, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Speaker bio(s)

Dr. Olson and his trainees discovered many of the genes that control heart and muscle development and disease. His discoveries at the interface of developmental biology and medicine have illuminated the fundamental principles of organ formation and have provided new concepts in the quest for cardiovascular therapeutics. Dr. Olson's laboratory seeks to delineate the mechanisms that govern development, disease, and regeneration of the heart and other muscles and to build upon this knowledge to restore muscle function during disease and aging. As one approach toward this goal, his laboratory is applying CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing to promote muscle repair in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which is caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene.   

 

Dr. Olson has established new cellular, genetic, and biochemical tools, as well as novel strains of genetically modified mice, for optimizing gene correction in vivo. His laboratory has also discovered a new myogenic stem cell with potent regenerative activity for adult muscle, providing a means of promoting muscle regeneration and repair. In his talk, Dr. Olson will discuss opportunities and obstacles in the path toward regeneration and permanent correction of diseases of muscle and the heart.

 

The founding chair of the department of molecular biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dr. Olson also directs the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine and the Wellstone Center for Muscular Dystrophy Research. He holds the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair, the Pogue Distinguished Chair, and the Annie and Willie Nelson Professorship. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His work has been recognized by numerous awards, including the Basic Research Prize from the American Heart Association, the Pasarow Award, the Pollin Prize, the Passano Award, and the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology. In 2009, the French Academy of Science awarded Dr. Olson the Fondation Lefoulon-Delalande Grand Prize for Science.

Open to

Public

Host

Jeffrey Friedman, M.D., Ph.D.

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Justin Sloboda

Phone

(212) 327-7785

Sponsor

Justin Sloboda
(212) 327-7785
jsloboda@rockefeller.edu

Readings

http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=4211