Dr Mahendra S. Rao

Biography

Developmental Neurobiology from the California Institute of Technology. Mahendra Rao is internationally known for his research involving human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and other somatic stem cells and has worked in the stem cell field for more than twenty years with stints in academia, government and regulatory affairs and industry. Dr Rao has an extensive background teaching medical and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows at institutions including The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, The National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India, and the University Of Utah School Of Medicine. Dr Rao has published more than 300 papers on stem cell research and is the co-founder of a neural stem cell company Q therapeutics based in Salt Lake City (Utah) and more recently NxCell based in California. Until 2010 Dr Rao led the Stem Cell and Regnerative Medicine division at LiFE Technologies and served on the Board of Thermogenesis (CESCA), Aastrom and Q therapeutics all companies involved in stem cell processing and therapy. Dr Rao also served as the Chair of the CBER (FDA) advisory committee (CTGTAC). Dr Rao serves on several scientific advisory boards to Pharma, journal editorial boards and oversight committees and advisory panels on large scale projects related to stem cell biology. He continues to work with the FDA and other regulatory authorities on PSC related issues most recently as the CIRM and ISSCR liaison to the ISCT. Dr. Rao was the founding Director of the NIH Center of Regenerative Medicine and also the Chief of the Laboratory of Stem cell Biology at the NIH until 2013. Dr Rao is currently the VP of strategic Affairs at Q therapeutics and serves as a consultant on Regenerative Medicine for the New York Stem Cell Foundation which has provided more than 100M dollars in research funding for cutting edge research in Regenerative Medicine. Dr Rao continues to provide consultant and advisory services to biotechnology companies in the regenerative medicine field and most recently was appointed as faculty at the Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Research Interest

Neurobiology