Speaker Profile
Ph.D., Professor, Director, UCSD
Biography
Dr. Muotri earned a BSc in Biological Sciences from the State University of Campinas in 1995 and a Ph. D. in Genetics in 2001 from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. He moved to the Salk Institute as Pew Latin America Fellowin 2002 for a postdoctoral training in the fields of neuroscience and stemcell biology. He has been a Professor at the School of Medicine, University of California in San Diego since late 2008. His research focuses onmodeling neurological diseases, such as Autism Spectrum Disorders, usinghuman induced pluripotent stem cells and brain organoids. He has receivedseveral awards, including the prestigious NIH Directors New Innovator Award, NARSAD, Emerald Foundation Young Investigator Award, Surugadai Awardfrom Tokyo University, Rock Star of Innovation from CONNECT, NIH EUREKA Award, among others.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2026 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Catriona Jamieson, UCSD
Opening talk
• Catriona Jamieson, UCSD
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Judy Faulkner, Epic
• Alexis C. Komor, UCSD
What’s Next at Epic?
• Peter DeVault, Epic
RNA Therapeutics Beyond mRNA: siRNA, ASOs, and snRNA
• Chair: Alexis C. Komor, UCSD
• Niren Murthy, UC Berkeley
• Gene Yeo, UCSD
• Reuben Harris, UT Health San Antonio
Small Molecule Therapeutics Targeting Stem Cells
• Chair: Catriona Jamieson, UCSD
• Irving L. Weissman, Stanford
Space-Omics & Stem-Cell Adaptation
• Chair: Catriona Jamieson, UCSD
• Alysson Muotri, UCSD
In Vivo Gene Therapies
• Chair: Gene Yeo, UCSD
• Mark A Kay, Stanford
• David Schaffer, UC Berkeley
Diagnostics, Prognostics, and Patient Stratification
• Chair: Ezra Cohen, Tempus
• Gudrun Stengel, Alida Biosciences
• David Ledbetter, Florida State University
Bioprinting Transplantable Liver: mRNA-Driven Multi-Lineage Differentiation from Autologous iPSCs
• Jiwu Wang, The Scintillon Institute
A New Era in Heart Failure Treatment: Delivering on the Promise of iPSC-Derived Cardiomyocyte Therapy
• Eugene Wang, Help Therapeutics
Closing Talk
• Catriona Jamieson, UCSD
