Sanford Stem Cell Innovation Center
The Sanford Stem Cell Innovation Center (SSCIC) is dedicated to expediting the translation of scientific insights into clinical therapies by propelling the frontiers of genomic technologies, harnessing the potential of human induced pluripotent stem cell models, and synergizing artificial intelligence with novel genomic modalities.
The Center focuses on developing cutting-edge genomic technologies, including spatial multi-omics, functional genomics, advanced gene therapy, and artificial intelligence-powered genomic analysis pipelines, to identify novel therapeutic targets in aging-related and developmental diseases. Its vision is to facilitate industry growth by leveraging its research findings and developed technologies to support the commercialization of applications through strategic collaboration with industry partners.
Leadership
Director Gene Yeoi, Ph.D., MBA
Dr. Yeo is a professor of cellular and molecular medicine at UC San Diego, director of its Center for RNA Technologies and Therapeutics, chief scientific advisor of its Sanford Laboratories for Innovative Medicines, and director of the SSCIC. He leads a multidisciplinary team that employs high-throughput genomics, systems biology approaches, engineering, and statistical and machine learning methods, as well as biochemical, molecular, and stem cell biology techniques, to solve problems in RNA processing.
Dr. Yeo’s lab develops methods that are systematic, robust, and adoptable, such as eCLIP for the purposes of large-scale mapping of protein-RNA interactions, in vivo RNA targeting with CRISPR/Cas proteins with proof of concept in repeat expansion disorders, and STAMP technology, the first transcriptome-wide method for identifying RNA binding protein sites and translation measurements at single-cell resolution. Dr. Yeo has also founded several biotech companies and serves as scientific advisor to many, including EclipseBio, Orbital Therapeutics, Insitro, Automera, AmberBio, and Atomic.AI.
Deputy Director Alexis Komor, Ph.D.
Dr. Komor is an assistant professor of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC San Diego, and the deputy director of the SSCIC. Dr. Komor and her lab seek to integrate the fields of nucleic acid chemistry, DNA damage and repair, protein engineering, directed evolution, and genome editing to develop new laboratory-based methods that facilitate the functional characterization of human genetic variants. Her lab develops and applies new precision genome editing techniques to the functional genomics field.
Dr. Komor’s contributions in teaching, mentoring, and research have been recognized with many awards, including the Cottrell Scholar Award, the “Talented 12” recognition by C&EN News, an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, a U.S. National Institutes of Health early stage investigator Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA), and a “40 under 40” recognition in healthcare by Fortune magazine.