Title:Clinical translation of stem cell therapy for the treatment of diabetic complications
Speaker:Timothy O'Brien,Ph.D.,Professor,Dean of the College of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences and Director of the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) in University of Galway
Time:10:00, May 27, 2024 (Beijing Time)
Location:Room 200,Yue-Kong Pao Library's Annex
Biography:
Prof O’Brien is head of the Department of Medicine, director of the Centre for Cell Manufacturing Ireland (CCMI) and the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI), and dean of the college of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at University of Galway. He is a Consultant Physician in Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes Mellitus at Galway University Hospital and Saolta University Healthcare Group.
He is the Established Professor of Medicine and Dean of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at University of Galway. He is a founder and Director of Orbsen Therapeutics, a company spun out from REMEDI. Prof. O Brien is the medical director of the Centre for Cell Manufacturing Ireland, a HPRA licensed GMP cell therapy production facility based in University of Galway and is a PI at the HRB Galway Clinical Research Facility. Prof O’Brien was a co-applicant on the CÚRAM proposal and is currently a funded investigator in that programme. He is co-Director of the Joint Stem Cell Research Facility of Hebei Medical University and University of Galway. He is also the Irish Director of the Confucius Institute of Chinese and Regenerative Medicine, which is a partnership between University of Galway and The Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.
Prof O’Brien has been a reviewer for 20 international journals, and multiple funding agencies from 17 countries such as the American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health, the Wellcome Trust, Finnish Academy of Science, Swiss National Science Foundation and the Hong Kong Research Grant Council. He served as Associate Editor of Endocrine Practice, the Journal of the American College of Endocrinology from 1999-2006 and the e-journal of Translational Medicine. He is currently the global co-editor in chief of the open access journal Stem Cell Research and Therapy and on the editorial board of Human Gene Therapy.
Prof O’Brien is an endocrinologist whose research is focused on the use of advanced therapy medicinal products, such as cells and genes, for the treatment of diabetic complications. Many of his 256 peer-reviewed publications focus on this issue. Since returning to Ireland following 14 years in the USA, he has established a regenerative medicine research program, led the development of a GMP facility and a Clinical Research Facility in Galway, has been the PI on the first gene and cell therapy trials conducted in Ireland and is a founder of a stem cell company, Orbsen Therapeutics, which has novel and patented stem cell isolation technologies. Prof O’Brien’s current focus is on translational efforts to evaluate the use of mesenchymal stem cells and repaired endothelial progenitor cells in diabetic complications such as critical limb ischemia.
Professor O’Brien has published 308 manuscripts including 207 research articles and 77 reviews, with a H-index of 64 (Google Scholar), 48 (Scopus). He is global co-editor in chief of Stem Cell Research and Therapy and is the author of six patents.