Agustin Luz Madrigal, PhD

Advisor: Mrinalini Hoon

Keywords: Organ Development, Regeneration, Cell Replacement, Therapy

Education
BA 2000, Pharmaceutical Biological Chemistry, School of Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Biological Chemistry, Mexico
PhD 2008, Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Cellular Physiology, National University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico

Research
Dr. Luz-Madrigal obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Biological and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the Institute of Cellular Physiology at the National University of Mexico. His research began with a focus on gene therapy for retinal diseases during his graduate studies and later expanded to include retina regeneration and cell reprogramming during his postdoctoral research at the University of Dayton and Miami University in Ohio. After completing his postdoc, he gained significant experience working with human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to generate organoids in vitro at the Center for Stem Cell & Organoid Medicine (CuSTOM) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). His expertise is in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), which he has used to study mesoderm and endoderm development. Collaborating with researchers at RIKEN, Japan, he helped develop a method to turn hPSCs into tracheal cells (Nat Commun. 2020). Later, in Dr. David Gamm’s lab, Dr. Luz Madrigal used hPSCs and retinal organoids to study eye diseases and cell therapies. He led a project on Congenital Stationary Night Blindness (CSNB2) and contributed to photoreceptor replacement studies in primates and canine models. He also worked on the ORRCA project, engineering stem cell-derived retinal cells for implantation (Bioact Mater. 2023). His long-term goal is to understand organ development and regeneration, especially in the retina, to advance cell-based therapies. Currently, in the Hoon Lab, Dr. Luz-Madrigal is working on retinal circuits and the underlying molecular components. 

Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Center

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