A special seminar from the Centre for Gene Therapy & Regenerative Medicine.

Speaker: Professor M Cristina Nostro

Title of the talk: "Building stem cell-derived islets for diabetes treatment: learning from the human fetal niche"

Host: Francesca Spagnoli

Date: Thursday 21 November 2024

Time: 15.00-16.00

Where: CGTRM Seminar Room, 28TH Floor, Tower Wing, Guy’s Hospital

Dr Maria Cristina Nostro is a Senior Scientist at the McEwen Stem Cell Institute at UHN, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and holds the Harry Rosen Chair in Diabetes Regenerative Medicine Research.

Dr Nostro completed her undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Florence in 2000 and then received a Ph.D. in Biomolecular Sciences from The University of Manchester in 2004. The same year, she joined Dr Gordon Keller’s laboratory at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and in 2007 she relocated to Toronto. In 2012, she started her independent career at UHN. Her research is focused on the generation of functional pancreatic beta cells from human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells.

Research Interests: The Nostro laboratory is interested in elucidating the molecular regulators controlling pancreatic development and beta cell maturation. To reach this goal, the lab uses directed differentiation of human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells to mimic embryonic development and organ morphogenesis. Ultimately, we aim to translate our findings to potential treatments for Type I Diabetes patients.