Shinya Yamanaka

Nobel Laureate; Founder of iPS cell technology - Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes

For more than 50 years, Parkinson's disease treatment has meant managing symptoms with medication—not addressing the root cause: the death of dopamine-producing brain cells. Now, a cluster of advancing clinical trials is testing whether stem cell therapies can actually replace those lost neurons. In December 2025, Hope Biosciences reported Phase II results showing statistically significant motor improvements in patients receiving stem cell infusions, while Kenai Therapeutics began dosing patients in a trial that surgically implants dopamine-producing cells directly into the brain. By February 2026, Kenai had expanded its Phase I REPLACE trial to three U.S. sites, including Keck Medicine of USC, where neurosurgeons are implanting iPS cell-derived dopamine neurons into the basal ganglia under MRI guidance.

Updated Feb 11

Nobel Laureate, Stem Cell Pioneer - Developed induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology

Johns Hopkins engineers grew miniature brains from patients' skin cells and discovered each psychiatric disorder has its own electrical fingerprint. The organoids diagnosed schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with 83% accuracy just by monitoring neural firing patterns—rising to 92% after gentle electrical stimulation. Machine learning algorithms spotted the differences invisible to human observers. The technology gained mainstream attention in January 2026 when NPR highlighted both the promise and ethical complexities of brain organoid research. By late January 2026, the American Psychiatric Association outlined plans to integrate biological biomarkers—including blood tests, neuroimaging, and digital monitoring—into the next DSM revision, signaling psychiatry's institutional shift toward biology-based diagnosis.

Updated Jan 31

Nobel Laureate, Director of Gladstone Institute - Pioneered induced pluripotent stem cell technology in 2006

Researchers just demonstrated they can regenerate heart muscle using reprogrammed stem cells—and for the first time, proved these patches work in a human patient. In January 2025, a 46-year-old woman with advanced heart failure received 10 patches containing 400 million stem cell-derived heart muscle cells. Three months later, when she received a transplant, examination of her original heart revealed the patches had survived, formed blood vessels, and integrated with her heart tissue. When your heart suffers a heart attack, scar tissue normally replaces dead muscle cells permanently. Adult human hearts renew less than 1% of their cells per year. This damage has been irreversible—until now.

Updated Jan 11