IAS Nobel Lecture - Stem Cell Therapy Centre Automation and Safety
Please note this Nobel Lecture has been rescheduled to March 24, 2025 (Mon). Please refer to the event details for the updated information.
Thank you for your attention.
Abstract
Healthcare is undergoing a revolution empowered by advancement in several areas:
Artificial intelligence in healthcare and anti-aging, leading to personalized healthcare & healthy longevity,
Cellular / genetic treatments, particularly via stem cells,
A deeper understanding of cell functions and growth signals, and
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and gene editing, particularly CRISPR/Cas9 technology is revolutionizing genetic interventions and treatments.
More than 5,000 gene therapy trials are listed with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including an increase in many new trials incorporating chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies and human genomic editing. There are many more trials taking place globally. Robotic surgeons and diagnostic doctors exceed human capabilities and we are in the early stages of this development. Stem cell therapies will be the typical treatment for many aging and developing ailments. Creating an automated and safe system requires a true understanding of the stem cell therapy process, which is in fairly early stages currently, and then automating more efficient and safe automated therapy manufacturing lines. It is clear that the large cryopreservation systems need to be protected against the background terrestrial and cosmic ray secondary ionizing radiation. This is likely to involve large caverns under 500 meters of rock with radiation shielding concrete liners, as well as testing and selecting low-radiation storage and manufacturing equipment. This requires AI systems, careful engineering, and a bit of definition by physicists and chemists.
About the Speaker
Prof. George SMOOT was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006, jointly with Prof. John MATHER, for their work that led to the “discovery of the black body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation”. This work helped further the Inflationary Universe and the Big Bang theory of the universe.
Prof. Smoot received his Bachelor degrees in Mathematics and Physics and his PhD in Physics in 1970 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been at the University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 1970. He is also Chair of the Endowment Fund "Physics of the Universe" of Paris Center for Cosmological Physics.
Prof. Smoot was elected a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He has been honored by several universities worldwide with doctorates or professorships. He was also the recipient of Gruber Prize in Cosmology (2006), Daniel Chalonge Medal from the International School of Astrophysics (2006), Albert Einstein Medal from Albert Einstein Society (2003), Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award from the US Department of Energy (1995), and the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal from NASA (1991).
Prof. Smoot authored more than 500 science papers and is also the co-author (with Keay DAVIDSON) of the popularized scientific book Wrinkles in Time (Harper, 1994) that elucidates cosmology and the discovery of NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer. A great teacher and a keen advocate of popular science, Prof. Smoot received the Oersted Medal in 2009 for his notable contributions to the teaching of physics.
For Attendees' Attention
Seating is on a first come, first served basis.