Director's Message | Spring 2022

It is with great optimism that we launch our quarterly UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center newsletter, Stem Cell Culture, in which we highlight just a few of the remarkable accomplishments of our faculty, trainees, and staff since the start of the year. I joined the Center during the historical challenges posed by the pandemic and now mark my 6-month anniversary. Considering the many ways that individuals have responded adaptively to life during the pandemic, nothing has been more inspiring to me than the team’s concerted efforts to advance our research, clinical, and educational missions to ensure that the ship stays on course.

Looking to the future, it seems undeniable that our ability to initiate new programs and respond to challenges with innovative solutions will continue to be key to the Center’s success. Toward that end, I was pleased and honored recently to announce the appointment of three new Associate Directors with whom I will look forward to working in the days and years ahead. Those colleagues are Dr. Brigitte Gomperts, who will lead Translational Research; Dr. William Lowry, who will lead Education and Technology Transfer; and Dr. Siavash Kurdistani, who will lead Technology Development. Together, they bring to the leadership team a vast wealth of knowledge, expertise, and experience, not to mention a hefty dose of good humor. Along with all our administrative staff, we will seek to provide support and opportunities for the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center community to achieve our shared goals.

Among those goals are to advance basic stem cell research by investing in cutting-edge technology and to reduce barriers to the translation of basic research into novel therapies. As such, we will continue to provide support for research directly through funds available to the Center, expand efforts to encourage philanthropic support for our more expansive initiatives, and provide mentorship to junior faculty to secure extramural funding from a variety of sources such as the National Institutes of Health and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. We are also excited to have initiated the processes necessary to search for and recruit new faculty. Additionally, we recognize the importance of building education and outreach programs that inspire and empower students from all backgrounds to become tomorrow’s leaders and innovators in regenerative medicine. As such, we will expand the Center’s training program as an investment in the future.

The anthropologist Margaret Mead famously said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.” Our goal at the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center is nothing short of changing the world by developing novel stem cell-based therapies for the most vexing human diseases and conditions. Our community is the small group of thoughtful, committed citizens to do just that.

Thank you for your commitment to our shared mission, to our Center, and to UCLA.

Thomas Rando, MD, PhD

Director, UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center

Professor of Neurology and Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology