Stem Cells: Implications for Human Health and Animal Research; Anand Chandrasekhar, PhD
Professor Chandrasekhar will discuss the discovery of stem cells and ethical issues associated with research using embryonic stem cells. He will explain how ethical concerns related to stem cell research have receded due to the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The impact of iPSCs and applications on personalized/precision medicine and research using model organisms will be discussed.
Dr. Anand Chandrasekhar is a Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri in Columbia. He received undergraduate degrees in Biology and Electrical Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in India. He received a PhD in Developmental Biology from the University of Iowa and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Neurobiology at the University of Michigan before joining the University of Missouri. Dr. Chandrasekhar conducts research into the processes that give form and function to the brain and nervous system, and examines the consequences of defects in these processes. These studies are performed in fish and mouse embryos using histology, microscopy, genetics and biochemistry, and is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.