Lauren Kelly

Class of 2017

Education: BS and MS in Biological Sciences at Cal Poly

 

Biography

Lauren became enamored with stem cells once she realized how ubiquitous they are in maintaining adult tissues, not just developing fetal systems. The development of age-related diseases and the molecular pathways which can establish such varied maladies as cancer, Alzheimer's, and arthritis are especially interesting to her. Following completion of this program, she'd like to balance her research and teaching goals by continuing on to a PhD program, with the goal of ultimately becoming a biology professor.

Lauren is interning at Capricor Therapeutics under the direction of Dr. Geoffrey deCouto. Capricor's primary products are cardiosphere derived cells (CDCs) and CDC derived exosomes for use in clinical indications such as cardiomyopathy and ocular graft versus host disease. Her projects at the company span the development of various in vitro and in vivo assays to study the immunomodulatory role of CDC exosomes.