SELECTBIO - The Space Summit 2022 Keynote Speakers

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Kristin Fabre

Deputy Chief Scientist, NASA Human Research Program, NASA

Dr. Fabre joined the NASA Human Research Program as Deputy Chief Scientist in January of 2022. In this role, she works with the HRP Management Team and HRP Scientists to help drive scientific strategy and scientific portfolio management; working toward the mission of investing in research and technology that mitigates human risk during spaceflight and space missions. Dr. Fabre’s previous role was as Chief Scientist at the Translational Research Institute for Space Health from December 2018 to May 2020. At TRISH she led TRISH’s effort to invest in high-risk, high-reward research and technology for space exploration. She worked with various stakeholders including NASA, industry and academia to adopt and implement outcomes from TRISH-funded project deliverables. Before joining TRISH, Dr. Fabre was the Microphysiological Systems (MPS) Lead at AstraZeneca and was part of the MPS Center of Excellence, Drug Safety and Metabolism. Prior to joining AZ in 2016, she was the Scientific Program Manager for the Microphysiological Systems (or Organs-on-Chips) Initiative at NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).

Dr. Fabre received her BS in Biology from the University of Wyoming, followed by her MS and PhD from Colorado State University in Cell and Molecular Biology. Prior to joining NCATS, she was at the NIH National Cancer Institute as a postdoctoral fellow in the Radiation Biology Branch. During her time at the NCI, Dr. Fabre was highly involved with training programs and was Chair of the NCI Fellows and Young Investigators Steering Committee and created the NCI Fellows Outreach Committee.

Jennifer Fogarty

Chief Scientific Officer, Translational Institute for Space Health, Baylor College of Medicine

Jennifer Fogarty, Ph.D. is the Chief Scientific Officer for the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) at Baylor College of Medicine and the Director of Applied Health and Performance at Sophic Synergistics LLC. With more than twenty years of experience in medical physiology and human health and performance in extreme environments, her mission is to increase access to high-quality healthcare in space and on Earth, by empowering patients and medical providers with precision medicine and cutting-edge technology. As Chief Scientist of TRISH, Dr. Fogarty leads an innovative, high-risk research and development portfolio to address space exploration's most challenging human health and performance risks. In her role at Sophic Synergistics, a women-owned and led human-centered design firm, Dr. Fogarty guides a division focused on developing and expanding medical technologies for use in remote medicine, telemedicine, and home healthcare. As a former NASA Human Research Program Chief Scientist, Jennifer prioritized communication and collaboration between industry, academia, government, commercial spaceflight programs, and international partners. She continues to value and seek partnerships when assessing the fundamental and mechanistic discoveries that lead to innovative preventions and treatments to sustain health and performance.

Dr. Fogarty received her Ph.D. in Medical Sciences from Texas A&M University College of Medicine. Other appointments include Assistant Professor in both Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Space Medicine and Department of Medicine; Editor of the Fundamentals of Aerospace Medicine, 4th and 5th editions; and Associate Editor for the journal npj Microgravity.

Michael Gelinsky

Professor and Head, Center for Translational Bone, Joint and Soft Tissue Research, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden

Michael Gelinsky received his PhD in Chemistry from Freiburg University (Germany). In 1999 he moved to TU Dresden and worked for around 10 years at the department of Materials Science, heading his own group at the newly founded Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials from 2002. In 2010 he was appointed Full Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and head of the Centre for Translational Bone, Joint and Soft Tissue Research (tu-dresden.de/med/tfo). His work is focused on biomaterials and scaffold development, tissue engineering and regenerative therapies, mostly for musculoskeletal tissues. His group is also very active in the field of additive manufacturing of implants and biofabrication technologies. Michael Gelinsky is currently President of the German Society for Biomaterials, is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Biofabrication (ISBF) and has been appointed as coordinator of an ESA Topical Team on “3D Bioprinting of living tissue for utilization in space exploration and extraterrestrial human settlements”. He also is member of the ESA Facility Science Team (FST) for the development of a bioprinter and 3D cell culture system for the ISS.

Jeanne Loring

Professor Emeritus, The Scripps Research Institute; Founder, Aspen Neuroscience

Dr. Loring is a pioneer in human stem cell research, having generated human embryonic stem cells that were approved for NIH funding in 2001. She is currently Professor emeritus at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, where she was founding director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine. She serves on scientific advisory boards for academic institutes and companies and is on the ethics advisory panel (MEAP) for the pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA.

She is a member of honorary societies including Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and AIMBE. Her awards include the Rosalyn Franklin Award (2022), the American Physiological Society Solomon A. Berson Distinguished Lectureship (2022), 11 Most Influential Women in Advanced Therapies (Phacillitate, 2020), Stem Cell Pioneer Award (Xconomy, 2019), Stem Cell Action Advocacy Award (2015), Stem Cell Person of the Year (2015).

Over the 20 years that her team has worked with human hPSCs, they reported the first method for single cell mRNA sequencing and the first whole methylome sequences of undifferentiated and differentiated hPSCs. They were also first to publish mRNA and microRNA expression profiles of hPSCs, recurrent genomic structural variations in hPSCs, and reactivation of imprinted regions and inactive X chromosomes in iPSCs. They developed PluriTest, the bioinformatic assay for pluripotency, and generated the first iPSCs from an endangered species.

Dr. Loring has founded two companies, Arcos Biosciences (1999), which is now part of Vertex, and Aspen Neuroscience (2018), which is focusing on autologous neuron replacement therapy for Parkinson’s disease.

Sonja Schrepfer

Professor of Surgery, University of California-San Francisco

Sonja Schrepfer, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Surgery, founded the Transplant and Stem Cell Immunobiology (TSI) Lab at Stanford. In 2015, she joined the faculty of the Department of Surgery at the University of California San Francisco as Director of the TSI Lab at UCSF. Dr. Schrepfer's research career has been dedicated to making fundamental discovers in stem cell immunology studying aging of the immune system and its effects on the stem cell niche by using spaceflight as model for aging. Tissue chips which launched on SpaceX16 and SpaceX25 were cultured on the International Space Station (ISS) and are being analyzed to understand implications for future long-term space missions, as well as translating this knowledge to earth-bound immune research.

Disclosure: Sonja is scientific founder of Sana Biotechnology Inc, which she joined as SVP (Head of the Hypo-Immune Platform) in 2019 and is Adjunct Professor at UCSF.

Danilo Tagle

Director, Office of Special Initiatives, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the NIH (NCATS)

Dan Tagle is Director of the Office of Special Initiatives at NCATS where he many coordinates efforts towards development of disruptive technologies in translational research. He obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Wayne State University School of Medicine. He was an NIH National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellow in Human Genetics at the University of Michigan. He has served on numerous committees, advisory boards, and editorial boards. He has authored many scientific publications and has garnered numerous awards, including more recently the Roscoe O. Brady Award for Innovation and Accomplishment, and the Henry J. Heimlich Award for Innovative Medicine.