Dr. Koji Eto
Professor, Department of Regenerative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine Chiba University, Chiba; Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. Professor, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University.

Dr. Koji Eto started his career as a clinical physician of cardiovascular medicine. He started his cell biology research at The Scripps Research Institute in 1999, which was supervised by Dr. Sanford Shattil, M.D. (currently in the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego). During his work there he developed an in vitro culture system whereby mouse embryonic stem cells (ES cells) can be differentiated into megakaryocytes and platelets. In 2003, he became an Assistant Professor at Institute of Medical Science (Principal Investigator), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, where he started human cell culture systems including for cord blood, human ES cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). In 2009,he was appointed as Associate Professor at The University of Tokyo. He moved to Kyoto to his current position of Professor of Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, in 2011 and started clinical trials using iPS cell-derived platelets. His laboratory has developed a novel system of large scale production of human platelets using an immortalized megakaryocyte progenitor cell line. He also serves as Professor at Department of Regenerative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine Chiba University, Chiba and as Professor, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, under the Directorship of the Nobel Laureate Dr. Shinya Yamanaka.

Prof. Maria Cristina Nostro
Scientist, McEwen Stem Cell Institute and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto

Maria Cristina Nostro is a Scientist at the McEwen Stem Cell Institute and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. She holds the Harry Rosen Chair in Diabetes and Regenerative Medicine Research and she is a member of the Multi Organ Transplant Program at the Toronto General Hospital.

Her research is focused on generating functional β cells from human pluripotent stem cells.

Her group has defined critical pathways leading to the efficient generation of stem cell-derived pancreatic progenitors in vitro and recently, through the use of a proteomics approach, identified a specific marker that allows the purification of these β cell progenitors. Since 2015, Dr. Nostro has been leading a multi-investigator team aimed at developing novel transplantation approaches for Type 1 Diabetes therapy.