On April 22, 2016 the Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures hosted a free Lunch and Learn with Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov on stem cell science.

Born in Kazakhstan, Shoukhrat Mitalipov is a biologist who today heads the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. He is known for discovering a controversial genetic therapy that may be a way to prevent mitochondrial diseases, a disorder that occurs when structures that produce energy for a cell malfunction, as well as his discovery in 2013 describing a new way of creating human stem cells from skin cells.

Mitalipov earned his master’s degree at the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy in Moscow and his Ph.D. in developmental and stem cell biology from the Research Centre of Medical Genetics in Moscow. Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, he applied for and won a fellowship at Utah State University in 1995. In 1998, he began work at the Oregon National Primate Research Center.

Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, he applied for and won a fellowship at Utah State University in 1995. In 1998, he began work at the Oregon National Primate Research Center.

Click the play buttons below to listen to some clips from Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov at the Lunch and Learn.