Ophir D. Klein: Prof. Klein serves as the inaugural executive director of Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s and the David and Meredith Kaplan Distinguished Chair in Children’s Health. He is also Adjunct Professor of Orofacial Sciences and Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Prof. Klein’s research focuses on elucidating the processes underlying craniofacial and dental development and renewal, as well as understanding how stem cells in the intestinal epithelium enable renewal and regeneration.

Ryuichi Nishinakamura: The goal of Prof. Ryuichi Nishinakamura is to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying kidney development and to utilize this knowledge to rebuild the kidney from pluripotent stem cells. He identified several key genes for kidney development through the generation of knockout mice. He subsequently determined the origin of kidney progenitors and utilized this information to successfully generate kidney organoids from pluripotent stem cells. He has also reported the generation of more complex kidney organoids with branching structures, as well as the modeling of genetic kidney diseases from patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells.

© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.