Turning stem cells into human eggs

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Stem cell derived germ cells growing in one of our cultures
Our Mission

We want to help parents have kids, and we aspire to make future generations healthier.

 

We are working on a technology, called in-vitro gametogenesis (IVG), that would give women the opportunity to have children well into their forties and fifties, eliminate barriers for couples suffering from infertility, and potentially allow male-male couples to have biological children.

 

Long term, this technology could be a critical platform allowing for widespread genetic screening of embryos. If proven safe, it could even eliminate and reduce the risk of devastating diseases for future generations – such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease and many different types of cancers.

 

This could become one of the most important technologies ever created.

Our Technology

In our lab, we reconstitute the process under which egg cells would normally develop inside the female body. We generate induced pluripotent stem cells from blood samples. We then shepherd these stem cells through the various steps that they would normally undergo as they develop to become viable eggs.

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We and others have shown that this technology works to make viable mouse eggs, and it can be used to make healthy, live mice. We are working on translating this technology to humans with the aim to make it a safe and accessible reproductive treatment.

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Our current focus is to create a proof of concept human egg, and develop rigorous process optimization and quality control measures to ensure that the eggs are healthy.

We do not take the development of this technology lightly. Our hope is that it will one day be used to bring healthy kids into the world, so we must hold ourselves to very high safety and ethical standards. Our plan will be to work closely with scientific, regulatory and ethical experts to ensure this technology develops safely and responsibly.

To learn more about us, our mission, and approach you can read three features published by The New Yorker, National Public Radio (NPR), and MIT Technology Review.

Our Team
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Abbie Groff

Associate Director
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Alyssa Miller

Associate Director
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Andrew Denys

Senior Operations Manager
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Angelica Aguilar

Senior Research Associate
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Anouk Killaars

Senior Scientist
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Atti Tripathi

Scientist
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Bianka Seres

President
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Christina McKee

Scientist
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Christine Mowad

Senior Research Associate
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Cierra Walker

Senior Bioinformatician
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Daniel Enders

Site Reliability Engineer
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Darrin Goodness

Associate Scientist
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Ellen Gregory

Associate Scientist
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Eric Qiao

Scientist
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Gabe Manske

Scientist
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Erika Paulson

Senior Scientist
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Hadja Stringfellow

Histotechnologist
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Isabella Saldana

Senior Research Associate
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Jason Lee

Senior Scientist
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Jen Trecartin

Associate Scientist
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Jennifer Shah

Senior Bioinformatician
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Jeremy Lotto

Bioinformatician
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Mariyan Jeyarajah

Scientist
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Matt Krisiloff

CEO
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Megan Sheridan

Associate Director
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Mikelle Foster

Associate Scientist
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Navied Akhtar

Bioinformatician
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Pablo Hurtado

CSO
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Rhishikesh Bargaje

Associate Director
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Savannah Bever

Associate Scientist
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Sean Merrill

Senior Scientist
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Silvia Llonch

Senior Scientist
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Tiama Hamkins-Indik

Senior Scientist
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Tisha Bohr

Senior Scientist
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Valentina Podhajny Rey

Research Associate
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Yuri Murphy

Head of Histology
Careers

A research company setting like ours is optimally set up to tackle a difficult problem like this.

We believe we have created a highly effective and open research environment, where everyone is united by the same goal. We are working on a difficult problem, and we are neither encumbered by limited resources, nor a need for individual team members to focus in isolation on their own projects for their own publications.

We think this type of research company serves as a model environment for how research should be done, and we invite you to come see for yourself.

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Current Openings
Stem Cell (Senior) Scientist
Berkeley, CA

Help us differentiate pluripotent stem cells into complex cell types.

Senior Research Associate
Berkeley, CA

Help us with stem cell culture, maintenance, and differentiation.

Developmental or Reproductive Biologists
Berkeley, CA

Help us with follicle isolations, follicle growth, egg maturation, and other IVF techniques.