Mitochondria Transfer and Transplant: Powering the Cell Therapy Field

ABOUT THE WEBINAR

Join us for an insightful journey into the evolving field of mitochondrial transfer and transplant with our webinar titled "Mitochondria Transfer and Transplant: Powering the Cell Therapy Field. Co-organized by the ISCT South & Central America (SCA) Regional Executive Committee and Associação Brasileira de Terapia Celular e Gênica (ABTCel-Gen), the event will be co-chaired by Virginia Picanço-Castro, PhD and Andrés Caicedo, PhD.

The webinar will open with Andrés Caicedo providing an introduction to the field and key insights from his laboratory team's pioneering research on mitochondrial transfer in skin cells and its application in wound healing and tissue regeneration. He will emphasize how mitochondria have evolved from being seen as mere powerhouses of the cell to “Living Drugs” with immense therapeutic potential.

Our featured speaker, Jonathan Brestoff, MD, PhD, will present his groundbreaking research on mitochondria transfer between adipocytes and macrophages, showcasing the intersection of immunometabolism and mitochondrial biology. Maroun Khoury, PhD, will delve into the revolutionary use of mitochondria transfer in CAR T cell therapies, highlighting its potential to transform cancer treatment.

This exclusive event offers members of the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT) an opportunity to explore how mitochondria are driving advances in cell therapy, addressing key challenges in immune dysfunction, and tissue repair. Engage with leading experts and discover how mitochondrial research is reshaping the future of regenerative medicine.

KEY LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  • Recognize the significance of mitochondria transfer and transplant in advancing cell therapy, with a focus on how it has revolutionized our understanding of cellular communication and tissue repair. (Speaker: Jonathan Brestoff, MD, PhD)

  • Analyze the impact of mitochondria transfer in CAR T cell therapies and its potential to enhance immunotherapy outcomes for various diseases. (Speaker: Maroun Khoury, PhD)

  • Evaluate the therapeutic application of mitochondrial transfer in skin cells for wound healing and its role in regenerative medicine, with an emphasis on recent preclinical and clinical advancements. (Speaker: Andrés Caicedo, PhD)

  • Compare different approaches in using mitochondria as a "Living Drug" across diverse therapeutic areas, including immunotherapy, tissue regeneration, and metabolic disease treatment.

  • Discuss the current challenges and emerging opportunities in mitochondrial-based therapies, highlighting the key considerations for clinical translation and regulatory hurdles.

 WEBINAR CO-CHAIRS

Virginia Picanço e Castro, PhD
Coordinator of the Biotechnology Laboratory at the Ribeirão Preto Blood Center;
Researcher at the CTC-USP
Brazil

Virginia Picanço e Castro, PhD, is a prominent researcher at the Regional Blood Center of Ribeirão Preto in Brazil, where she focuses on pluripotent stem cells and cell reprogramming. After earning her degree in Biological Sciences from the University of São Paulo, Dr. Picanço e Castro pursued a Ph.D. in Genetics at the Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, followed by postdoctoral fellowships at both the Regional Blood Center and Indiana University. Her research explores the complex pathways involved in cell reprogramming, specifically aiming to generate pluripotent stem cells from human somatic cells. She also investigates the molecular mechanisms that regulate the differentiation of hematopoietic and pluripotent stem cells, with the ultimate goal of developing effective in vitro differentiation protocols.

Dr. Picanço e Castro’s work aims to create a comprehensive database of genomic proto-proteins involved in hematopoietic differentiation, which could lead to new gene overexpression techniques that enhance cell differentiation and reprogram fibroblasts into adult blood cells. Her research is highly relevant to Brazil's burgeoning biotechnology sector, with the potential to offer safer and more efficient stem cell-based therapies. She collaborates with leading national and international researchers and guides a team of students at the Biotechnology Laboratory Group, contributing to significant advancements in regenerative medicine and therapeutic innovation.

Andrés Caicedo, PhD 
Principal Investigator, Director of the Biomedicine Instituto, iBioMed;
Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Ecuador

Andrés Caicedo earned his PhD with Honors in Biomedicine in 2013, supported by a scholarship from the French Ministry of National Education, Higher Education, and Research. He holds specializations in Regenerative Medicine from the Biomedicine Research Institute and Biotherapies (IRMB) and in Management, both from the University of Montpellier. Since 2016, he has been an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator at the School of Medicine at San Francisco University of Quito (USFQ), where he leads the "Biomedical Discovery" team. His research group focuses on developing innovative therapies for repairing tissue damaged by aging, environmental stress, or injury.

In 2017, Andrés was named one of the Innovators Under 35 in Latin America by the MIT Technology Review for his groundbreaking work on "Artificial Mitochondria Transplantation for Medical Purposes, MitoCeption." That same year, he won the "Ecuador Changes the World" Innovation Call from the Alliance for Entrepreneurship and Innovation of Ecuador (AEI) for his project on predicting susceptibility to diabetes and metabolic syndrome using circulating mitochondrial DNA.

From 2018 to 2023, Andrés led the R&D department at “Sistemas Médicos USFQ” and founded the Dragon BioMed Initiative at USFQ, focusing on mitochondria as a "Living Drug." In 2019, he served as Chairman of the Scientific Commission at the National Institute of Transplantation of Tissue, Organs, and Cells (INDOT). He currently serves as the Vice-President Elect for South and Central America of the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT). In 2023, Andrés was honored with the ISCT Trailblazer Award for Emerging Markets, and in 2024, he received the Best Innovation of the Year and Best Inventor Awards from the Ecuadorian Corporation for the Development of Research and Academia (CEDIA).

Throughout his career, Andrés has been awarded multiple grants to advance intellectual property rights for innovations in regenerative medicine and cancer, primarily funded by CEDIA. He remains committed to fostering collaboration between the private sector, academia, and government to position Ecuador and the region as leaders in safe and effective stem cell-based therapies.

 WEBINAR SPEAKERS

Jonathan R. Brestoff, MD, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor of Pathology & Immunology, Division of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine, 
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
United States

Jonathan R. Brestoff, MD, PhD, MPH, is an assistant professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM). He completed his MD/PhD at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania with Dr. David Artis, where Dr. Brestoff’s work identified that group 2 innate lymphoid cells induce beige fat to limit the development of obesity. He then moved to WUSM in 2016 for his residency in pathology, during which time Dr. Brestoff completed his postdoctoral training with Dr. Steven Teitelbaum. For his research on a process called intercellular mitochondria transfer, Dr. Brestoff was awarded the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award and Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists, allowing him to launch his independent laboratory at WUSM in 2019. His lab continues to study immunometabolism and intercellular mitochondria transfer, leading to his lab’s pioneering studies on mitochondria transfer from adipocytes to macrophages, which was named in Cell Metabolism’s Best of 2021 special issue. His work on these subjects has been published in Nature, Cell, Science, Cell Metabolism, Nature Immunology, Nature Metabolism, and other top journals. He is a member of the scientific advisory board for LUCA Science, Inc., based in Tokyo, and is a trustee at his alma mater, Skidmore College.

Maroun Khoury, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer Part Time Cells for Cells S.A.;
Professor, Universidad de los Andes
Chile

He obtained a PhD in health and biology from the University of Montpellier, France, focusing on gene therapy in joint diseases, where a constellation of gene therapy strategies were used included RNA interference, viral- and liposome-based vectors. The successful outcome of these approaches resulted in multiple high impact publications, conveying the opportunity for a postdoctoral position at the MIT, Koch Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts. At MIT, he focused his effort on establishing a humanized mouse model; a mouse with a human blood system. This was followed by a position at the MIT-Singapore alliance for research and technology (SMART), in Singapore, where he worked on hematopoietic and fetal stem cells. Following this enriching experience, he established his own research laboratory of nanoRegenerative medicine, in Santiago de Chile, where he currently directs a young team of highly motivated researchers. The laboratory is located at the Universidad de Los Andes and affiliated to a biotechnology venture, Cells for Cells, where he currently hold a dual position as an A/Professor and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at Cells for Cells and Regenero (co-founder), the Chilean consortium for Regenerative medicine.

Andrés Caicedo, PhD 
Principal Investigator, Director of the Biomedicine Instituto, iBioMed;
Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Ecuador

Andrés Caicedo earned his PhD with Honors in Biomedicine in 2013, supported by a scholarship from the French Ministry of National Education, Higher Education, and Research. He holds specializations in Regenerative Medicine from the Biomedicine Research Institute and Biotherapies (IRMB) and in Management, both from the University of Montpellier. Since 2016, he has been an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator at the School of Medicine at San Francisco University of Quito (USFQ), where he leads the "Biomedical Discovery" team. His research group focuses on developing innovative therapies for repairing tissue damaged by aging, environmental stress, or injury.

In 2017, Andrés was named one of the Innovators Under 35 in Latin America by the MIT Technology Review for his groundbreaking work on "Artificial Mitochondria Transplantation for Medical Purposes, MitoCeption." That same year, he won the "Ecuador Changes the World" Innovation Call from the Alliance for Entrepreneurship and Innovation of Ecuador (AEI) for his project on predicting susceptibility to diabetes and metabolic syndrome using circulating mitochondrial DNA.

From 2018 to 2023, Andrés led the R&D department at “Sistemas Médicos USFQ” and founded the Dragon BioMed Initiative at USFQ, focusing on mitochondria as a "Living Drug." In 2019, he served as Chairman of the Scientific Commission at the National Institute of Transplantation of Tissue, Organs, and Cells (INDOT). He currently serves as the Vice-President Elect for South and Central America of the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT). In 2023, Andrés was honored with the ISCT Trailblazer Award for Emerging Markets, and in 2024, he received the Best Innovation of the Year and Best Inventor Awards from the Ecuadorian Corporation for the Development of Research and Academia (CEDIA).

Throughout his career, Andrés has been awarded multiple grants to advance intellectual property rights for innovations in regenerative medicine and cancer, primarily funded by CEDIA. He remains committed to fostering collaboration between the private sector, academia, and government to position Ecuador and the region as leaders in safe and effective stem cell-based therapies.