Robert Lanza

Robert Lanza is Chief Scientific Officer of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) and Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine. [ [http://hubpages.com/hub/Robert-Lanza Robert Lanza, M.D ] ]

Biography

Lanza received both BA and MD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was both a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a University Scholar. Lanza is a former Fulbright Scholar and has worked with well-known scientists Jonas Salk, B. F. Skinner, and Christiaan Barnard. He has been described as "the living embodiment of the character played by Matt Damon in the movie "Good Will Hunting"."citation
last = Fischer
first = Joannie
title = The First Clone
journal = US News and World Report
pages = 1-9
date = 2001-11-25
url = http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/011203/archive_019784_4.htm
accessdate = 2008-08-20] Lanza currently resides in Clinton, Massachusetts.

Work on stem cells

Lanza was part of the team that cloned the world's first early stage human embryos for the purpose of generating embryonic stem cells.citation
last = Cibelli
first = Jose B.
last2 = Lanza
first2 = Robert P.
last3 = West
first3 = Michael D.
author3-link = Michael D. West
last4 = Ezzell
first4 = Carol
title = The First Human Cloned Embryo
journal = Scientific American
pages = 1-4
date = 2001-11-24
url = http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-first-human-cloned-em
accessdate = 2008-08-20] [ [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.01/clones.html Wired 12.01: Seven Days of Creation ] ] In 2001 he was also the first to clone an endangered species (a Gaur), [ [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0002AB9E-F4AA-1C72-9B81809EC588EF21 Cloning Noah's Ark: Scientific American ] ] and in 2003, he cloned an endangered wild ox (a Banteng) [>http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1225049] from the frozen skin cells of an animal that had died at the San Diego Zoo nearly a quarter-of-a-century earlier.Lanza and his colleagues were also the first to demonstrate that nuclear transplantation could be used to reverse the aging process [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/biology/pollack/w4065/client_edit/readings/science288_665.pdf] and to generate immune-compatible tissues, including the first organ tissue-engineered from cloned cells. [ [http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v20/n7/abs/nbt703.html Generation of histocompatible tissues using nuclear transplantation - Nature Biotechnology ] ] One of his most recent successes was showing that it is feasible to generate functional oxygen-carrying red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells under conditions suitable for clinical scale-up. The blood cells were comparable to normal transfusable blood and could serve as a potentially inexhaustible source of “universal” blood. [ [http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/cgi/content/abstract/blood-2008-05-157198v1] [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article4567387.ece] Dr. Lanza has also succeeded in getting stem cells to grow into retinal cells. Using this technology some forms of blindness may be curable. His team also discovered how to generate functional hemangioblasts – a population of "ambulance" cells [ [http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-05-07-ambulance-cells_N.htm Elusive 'ambulance' cells are created - USATODAY.com ] ] - from human embryonic stem cells. In animals, these cells quickly repaired vascular damage, cutting the death rate after a heart attack in half and restoring the blood flow to ischemic limbs that might otherwise have to be amputated. [ [http://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/v4/n6/abs/nmeth1041.html Generation of functional hemangioblasts from human embryonic stem cells - Nature Methods ] ] However, perhaps his greatest early fame came from his demonstration that techniques used in preimplantation genetic diagnosis could be used to generate embryonic stem cells without embryonic destruction. [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nature05142.html]

Awards

Lanza has received numerous awards, including a Rave Award for medicine, [ [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/rave.html?pg=4 Wired 13.03: The 2005 Wired Rave Awards ] ] and an “All Star” award for biotechnology. [ [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5917859/Dr-Robert-Lanza-Receives-2006.html Dr. Robert Lanza Receives 2006 'All Star' Award for Biotechnology. Industry & Business Article - Research, News, Information, Contacts, Divisions, Subsidiaries, Business Associations ] ] He believes that stem cell technology will have a substantial importance in the future of medicine. [cite web | title=Cover Shots: Robert Lanza | url=http://www1.elsevier.com/homepage/sap/covershots/issues/2.1/lanza.htm ] According to Discover magazine, “Lanza’s single-minded quest to usher in this new age has paid dividends in scientific insights and groundbreaking discoveries.” [ [http://discovermagazine.com/2008/sep/19-fighting-for-the-right-to-clone ] ]

Publications

Lanza has authored books on topics involving tissue engineering, cloning, and stem cells, [ [http://www.academicpress.com/brochures/academicpress/lanza.html Academic Press :: Robert Lanza ] ] including the "Handbook of Stem Cells" and "Essentials of Stem Cell Biology", which are considered the definitive references in the field of stem cell research. [ [http://books.elsevier.com/us/biomed/us/subindex.asp?isbn=0124366430&country=United+States&community=biomed&mscssid=R4MSBQG5C01B8G2462W5XXMLH0N4FVLD Elsevier-Medical publishers, online journals, textbooks, drug references ] ] Others include "Principles of Tissue Engineering", "Principles of Regenerative Medicine", [ [http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Regenerative-Medicine-Anthony-Atala/dp/0123694108 Amazon.com: Principles of Regenerative Medicine: Books: Anthony Atala,Robert Lanza,Robert Nerem,James A. Thomson ] ] and "One World: The Health & Survival of the Human Species in the 21st Century" (with a Foreword by former President and Nobel laureate Jimmy Carter). [http://books.google.com/books?id=sx6DFr8rbpIC&dq=robert+lanza&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=S7MWUDnJnY&sig=4_VoywwtJ-1GUxLlATKrqai-U9s]

In 2007, Lanza published a feature article, "A New Theory of the Universe" in "The American Scholar". [ [http://www.theamericanscholar.org/archives/sp07/newtheory-lanza.html The American Scholar - A New Theory of the Universe - By Robert Lanza ] ] Lanza's theory places biology above the other sciences in an attempt to solve one of nature’s biggest puzzles, the theory of everything that other disciplines have been pursuing for the last century. [ [http://www.wired.com/medtech/genetics/news/2007/03/72910 Will Biology Solve the Universe? ] ] [ [http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/03/08/85328.aspx Theory of every-living-thing - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com ] ] [ [http://asp.usatoday.com/community/tags/topic.aspx?req=tag&tag=Robert%20Lanza Robert Lanza - Tag Story Index - USATODAY.com ] ] Nobel laureate E. Donnall Thomas stated "Any short statement does not do justice to such a scholarly work. The work is a scholarly consideration of science and philosophy that brings biology into the central role in unifying the whole." [ [http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/09/lanza-theories-physics-biotech-oped-cx_mh_0309lanza.html?partner=yahootix A Biotech Provocateur Takes On Physics - Forbes.com ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.robertlanza.com: Personal website] , blog, and archive of books, articles and news. 2007
* [http://www.advancedcell.com/ website Advanced Cell Technology]