The New York Stem Cell Foundation

Scott A. Noggle, PhD, Principal Investigator of NYSCF's scientific team, is conducting research at NYSCF's state-of-the-art laboratory and also serves as a technical and scientific resource to other researchers working in the laboratory.   Scott previously managed the Tri-Institutional Stem Cell Initiative's Derivation Core facility at The Rockefeller University for the past two years.  He was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Ali H. Brivanlou at The Rockefeller University studying the signaling pathways that maintain pluripotency and control neural induction in hESCs.  He received his PhD from the Medical College of Georgia and his BS and MS from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.  He has also been appointed an Adjunct Associate Research Scientist in Pediatrics and Molecular Genetics at Columbia University.

Jennifer joins NYSCF with experience in protocol development and clinical research support. She came to us from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where she was a Senior Protocol Development Coordinator in the Office of Clinical Research. Previously, she was a research assistant in the Department of Breast Surgery (also at MSKCC). She has a BS in Biology from Fordham University.

Dieter Egli’s research in the NYSCF laboratory currently focuses on the generation of therapeutically relevant cells for diabetes. His work has relevance for the use of stem cells to study disease, screen for new drugs, and cell replacement therapy. His research creating patient-specific stem cells using the DNA of patients with type 1 diabetes, first published in Nature in October 2011, was named the #1 Medical Breakthrough of 2011 by TIME magazine, which also named him one of 2011’s People Who Mattered. Dr. Egli earned his PhD at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He received his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Kevin Eggan at the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, studying reprogramming after nuclear transfer. Dr. Egli is also an Adjunct Associate Research Scientist in the Division of Molecular Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University, and has a collaborative relationship with Columbia’s Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center.

Haiqing Hua, PhD, joined NYSCF in 2009. He has also been appointed as a Postdoctoral fellow in Pedriatics & Molecular Genetics at Columbia University, in the group of Dr. Rudolf Leibel. He received his PhD from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. His interests include the generation of patient-specific stem cells and ß-cell differentiation.  

Aiqun Li, PhD, joined NYSCF as a staff scientist in 2011. His current research includes the generation of dopamine neurons from Parkinson’s disease-specific induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for modeling and studying disease and therapeutic transplantation. Previously, he was a postdoctoral/research associate in Dr. Ching-Hwa Sung’s lab at the Dyson Vision Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College. During his postdoctoral training, he explored the link between primary cilia and fate determination of neural stem cells in neocortex development. He received his PhD from Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2006. His thesis project focused on the mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective action of apomorphine, a promising drug for Parkinson's disease. He earned his MD from Nanjing Medical University in 2000.

Hector joined the NYSCF team in November 2009, where his current interests lie in the study of diabetes through the use of patient-specific stem cells with the hope to provide cell-based therapies that are suited to clinical application. He came to us from The Rockefeller University, where he worked with Noble Laureate Dr. Paul Greengard studying the components of the signal transduction cascade responsible for the regulation of Amyloid precursor protein breakdown and the formation of Aβ, with the aim of developing new targets for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Michael W. Nestor, Ph.D. joined NYSCF as a postdoctoral fellow in 2011. His research is centered on understanding the physiological role iPS and ES cells derived from Alzheimer's Disease patients play in functional circuits underlying cognition and memory. He received his doctorate in Neuroscience from The University of Maryland, School of Medicine where he studied hippocampal electrophysiology and synaptic plasticity under Dr. Scott M. Thompson and Dr. Robert J. Bloch. Before joining NYSCF, Michael was a postdoctoral fellow at the NIH in the lab of Dr. Dax Hoffman. In Dr. Hoffman's lab, Michael used advanced 2-photon microscopy techniques to study the trafficking of potassium channels in the dendrites of pyramidal neurons in the hippocampus. Michael has also served as a scientific consultant and he has a strong interest in neurophilosophy and the national and international politics of science and scientific discovery. He loves to spend his spare time with his baby son, collecting vintage video game systems, and running an indie rock record label.

Anita Ritz joined NYSCF in September 2010 and is currently a research technician focusing on modeling Parkinson’s disease using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. She earned a Masters degree in Biochemical Studies at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Genetics in Berlin, with a focus on RNAi. Previously, she studied the behavior of primary human chondrocytes (cartilage cells) and osteoblasts (cells that make bone) under different cell culture conditions, including using different cell culture techniques on different scaffold materials and stimulating by growth factor.

Andrew Sproul, PhD, joined NYSCF in early 2010.  His current research focuses on the use of iPS and ES cells to study Alzheimer's Disease.  He received his PhD from Columbia University, where he studied neuronal cell death in the laboratory of Dr. Lloyd Greene.   Before starting at NYSCF, he did a short postdoc researching neurogenesis in the laboratory of Dr. Sergei Sokol at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Prior to graduate school, he worked for four years in bacterial research, including three in the laboratory of Sir Hans Kornberg at Boston University, where he studied the evolution of novel fructose metabolic pathways.  In his spare time he enjoys practicing kung fu and cooking.

Keren Weiss joined NYSCF in early 2011 after spending several years working as an Andrology Scientist in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) in Sydney, Australia. Her primary focus in her previous clinical role included diagnostic testing and cryopreservation. She was also heavily involved in research and process improvement, specifically looking at improving sperm DNA testing, cryopreservation media and automation. She has received both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Medicine (Reproductive Health and Human Genetics) from The University of Sydney, Australia.