John Ludlow,
Executive Director, Regenerative Medicine,
Zen-Bio, Inc.
John W. Ludlow, Ph.D, is the Executive Director of Regenerative Medicine at Zen Bio Inc. (Research Triangle Park, NC.) Prior to joining the company in 2012, John was Senior Director, Process Research and Assay Development, at Tengion Inc., a tissue engineering and regenerative medicine company (Winston-Salem, NC.) He held this position for 7 years. John also served as Senior Director, Cell Therapy Program, Vesta Therapeutics, Inc., (formerly Incara Pharmaceuticals; Research Triangle Park, NC.) for 5 years. He has developed and managed research and pre-clinical programs, initiated clinical trial sites, and directed development activities for cell therapy and tissue engineered products. He is an inventor on 4 issued patents pertaining to regenerative medicine products, and has published over 100 articles. Working closely with regulatory agencies, John has helped to ensure approval of the company’s products. John began his career as a faculty member at the University of Rochester Cancer Center (NY), where for 10 years he maintained an independently funded research laboratory training graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in the area of tumor suppressor gene expression, protein structure, and function.
Stem Cell Extracellular Vesicles as a Novel Therapy for Age-related Tendinopathy
Monday, 17 February 2020 at 17:00
Add to Calendar ▼2020-02-17 17:00:002020-02-17 18:00:00Europe/LondonStem Cell Extracellular Vesicles as a Novel Therapy for Age-related TendinopathyCirculating Biomarkers World Congress 2020 in Coronado Island, CaliforniaCoronado Island, CaliforniaSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
Aging is the principal risk factor associated with tendinopathy and also
contributes to a significant decrease in the ability to efficiently
heal chronic tendon injury by altering the complex and highly
coordinated processes required for normal resolution. In addition to
increases in lifespan and a growing aging population that is remaining
active, there is a concomitant rise in the prevalence of comorbidities
and tendinopathy risk factors such as obesity and diabetes. These
factors have led to a very high prevalence of tendon injuries in those
over 60 years of age, reaching 50% of this population, resulting in
decreased quality of life and an economic burden in the billions of
dollars. The use of biological and stem cell therapies for tendon
healing and repair have been widely investigated and have demonstrated
some potential for soft tissue regeneration. Secreted extracellular
vesicles (EVs), such as exosomes, are packed with potent pro-repair
proteins and RNA cargos that are both cell type-specific, as well as
differentially produced and secreted according to the cellular
environment. We have demonstrated that mild heat shock improves the
repair activity of stem cell-derived EVs in vitro and in vivo. By
manipulating the cellular environment, we have found that we can alter
stem cell EV production and secretion. Our results have validated an
approach of manipulating the cellular environment in a closed-system
bioreactor to modify the bioactive cargo of secreted EVs for improved
tendon healing. This presentation will describe the further development
of our pro-healing EV therapeutic approach to treat tendon injuries and
tendinopathy specifically afflicting the elderly.