We are very excited to announce our November Science Café speaker and topic. Franklin D. West, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Regenerative Medicine at the University of Georgia, will be joining us Tuesday, Nov. 15, to give his talk, titled “Saving the Sumatran Tiger and Clouded Leopard – Developing Technology to Turn Tiger Skin Cells into Sperm.”
Dr. West is a world-leading expert in stem cell biology with a focus in cellular reprogramming for agriculture and conservation and the development of stem cell therapies for neural injury and diseases including stroke, traumatic brain injury and dementia. He was named one of the nation’s top scholars under 40 by Georgia Trends and Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazines and has been featured on NPR, CNN and FOX News.
Dr. West received a Bachelor of Science in biology from Morehouse College and a doctorate in stem cell biology from the University of Georgia, where he now holds position as an associate professor of animal and dairy science. Dr. West was a MARC (Minority Access to Research Careers) U-Star Research Fellow and a David and Lucille Packard Research Fellow at Morehouse College. Dr. West sits on the steering committee of UGA’s Regenerative Bioscience Center.
He has published in numerous international scientific peer-reviewed journals including Cell, Stem Cells and Scientific Reports. He holds several patents in the area of regenerative medicine and has written book chapters covering topics from developing transgenic animals to cell therapies. Dr. West has produced the first live chimeric pigs from induced pluripotent stem cells, has developed novel stem cell to germ cell petri dish culture systems and a first-of-its-kind U.S. swine stroke model that has major implications on the treatment of human stroke patients.