Madison Wright
Class of 2022
Education: BS and MS in Biological Sciences at Cal Poly
Biography
Madison is intrigued by the potential that stem cells hold in the future of medicine, from targeted immunotherapy to skeletal muscle recovery and neuroregeneration. She loves the idea of repurposing a patient’s own cells for cell-based therapies, which aligns with her philosophy that the best solution is usually simple and right in front of you. After completing her MS in Biology, Madison plans to make strides in the field as a stem cell biologist before attending medical school. She hopes to have her own practice in the future which integrates a holistic approach to health with stem cell therapies.
Internship
Madison completed her internship at the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine in Nicole Coufal's lab. The concentration of the Coufal lab is on microglia, the resident macrophage of the central nervous system, and their role in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. Madison worked on a project studying how various point mutations in the mitochondrial DNA Polymerase Gamma (POLG) affect the function and phenotype of microglia in Alper's Syndrome, a fatal disease marked by muscular atrophy and rapid neurodegeneration in young children. To model this disease, she reprogrammed patient-derived fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) before differentiating them into microglia and cerebral organoids.