Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show

Send us Fan MailSerge Da Deppo is Founder of the NATO Innovation Hub, and Human Sciences Project Officer, at NATO Transformation Command (https://www.act.nato.int/). The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 28 European countries and 2 North American countries. The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949. NATO constitutes a system of collective security, whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. The NATO headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium. The Innovation Hub is the community where experts and innovators from everywhere collaborate to tackle NATO challenges and design solutions, and is the engine of the NATO Innovation Network, federating national entities leveraging open innovation and agile development. From 1990-2007, Mr. Da Deppo spent time in a variety of roles in the Belgian military, including platoon leader, training officer, Senior Officer Course Instructor, and International Defense Planning Officer. Mr. Da Deppo has a Master of Arts (M.A.) Military Applied Sciences from Belgium's Royal Military Academy and a degree in Advanced Military and Operational Studies from The Royal Higher Institute for Defense.Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Muhammad Rehman Shirzad is the Director of the Forensic DNA Laboratory, at the Directorate of Legal Medicine, and a Forensic Laboratories Consultant, at the Forensic Medicine Directorate, of the Ministry of Public Health, in Kabul, Afghanistan. His responsibilities include supervision of the Forensic DNA Lab, Forensic Analytical and Post-Mortem Toxicology Lab, Forensic Serology Lab, Forensic Microbiology Lab, and Forensic Histopathology Lab. Muhammad has his Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Forensic Science & Toxicology, from the Center for Research in Molecular Medicine (CriMM), at the University Of Lahore, Pakistan, and his B.Sci. in Molecular Biology and Microbiology, from the Center of Biotechnology and Microbiology, at the University of Peshawar. Muhammad is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Science (AAFS) and the Canadian Academy of Forensic Science. He is fluent in Pashto, English, Hindi/Urdu, Arabic, and French. Muhammad is also the Forensic Advisor to the Global Youth Academic Advancement Forum (GYAAF). Support the show

Send us Fan MailDr. Hanadie Yousef, Ph.D. is a Scientist, Co-Founder and CEO of Juvena Therapeutics, a regenerative medicine company developing protein therapeutics to promote tissue regeneration and increase healthspan, to prevent, reverse, and cure degenerative diseases. For over 17 years, Dr. Yousef elucidated mechanisms of aging and developed methods for tissue regeneration supported by multiple awards, fellowships and grants. Her discoveries were published in top publications that include Nature Medicine and led to several issued patents which laid the foundation of Juvena Therapeutics’ venture-backed, drug discovery and pre-clinical development platform. Dr. Yousef earned a BS in Chemistry, summa cum laude, from Carnegie Mellon University, a PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley as an NSF graduate research fellow, pursued a 5-year postdoctoral fellowship in Neurology at Stanford School of Medicine, and conducted R&D at Regeneron and Genentech.Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Harold Katcher is the Chief Scientific Officer at Yuvan Research Inc., a biotech company exploring the development of novel, young plasma fraction rejuvenation treatments in mammals. Most recently Dr. Katcher was the Academic Director for Natural Sciences for the Asian Division of the University of Maryland Global Campus and throughout his career, Dr. Katcher has been a pioneer in the field of cancer research, and in the development of modern aspects of gene hunting and sequencing (including as one of the discoverers of the breast cancer gene BRCA1) as part of Myriad Genetics, and carries expertise in bioinformatics, chronobiology, and biotechnology. Dr. Katcher has thousands of citations in the scientific literature, with publications ranging from protein structure to bacteriology, biotechnology, bioinformatics and biochemistry. Dr. Katcher is launching his new book “The Illusion of Knowledge” on September 4th, 2021. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Carolina Reis Oliveria, is the CEO and Co-Founder of OneSkin Technologies, a biotechnology platform dedicated to exploring longevity science. Carolina holds her Ph.D. in Immunology at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, in collaboration with the Rutgers University, where she conducted research with pluripotent stem cells as a source of retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) cells, as well as the potential of RPE-stem cells derived as toxicological models for screening of new drugs with intra-ocular applications. She founded a company called CELLSEQ solutions in Brazil which develops tools to revolutionize the safety and toxicology assays performed by pharmaceutical, cosmetic, agro-chemical and food industries, with technology based on stem cells and big data analysis. She is an alumnus of IndieBio, the world's leading biotechnology accelerator. In 2016, Carolina relocated to Silicon Valley from Latin America to co-found OneSkin, and to lead the development of the company’s technologies. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail On today’s episode we are going to continue our virtual global road trip over to the country of South Africa, to the Soweto township of the city of Johannesburg, and meet up with Ms. Sibongile Mongadi, Founder of Uku’hamba Pty Ltd, a start-up company that focuses on biotechnology and healthcare manufacturing with a goal of improving lives of amputees across Africa. Uku’hamba is a 100% black youth women owned company and Uku’hamba means "To Walk" in Zulu. Utilizing 3D printer and 3D scanning technologies, she has dedicated her career to developing prosthetic limbs that can be widely and cheaply manufactured. Her mission is to ensure prostheses are made available to anyone in need, greatly increasing the independence of amputees who may not currently be able to afford them. Ms. Mongadi has been designated as one of the top emerging innovators across Africa in 2018, named in the Inspiring Fifty’s class of 50 South African Women of 2019, and as a Top 100 South Africa Shining Stars for Science & Technology in 2019. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck South Africa, she redirected her company’s efforts to manufacturing safety equipment for front line workers. She has also worked with 3 other young innovators to build a contact-less thermometer sensor and hands-free, hand sanitizer system used in schools and corporate locations in the fight against COVID-19. Ms. Mongadi is also the founder of the Soweto Young Women Empowerment initiative that seeks to shape young women to be leaders in different spheres of society. Outside of this, she is also the chief marketing officer at Club Readership, a publishing company which seeks to celebrate African stories, who's work ignited a drive to open a library in rural Eastern Cape which saw her collect hundreds of books for needy pupils in the province. Ms. Mongadi has been educated at Cape Peninsula University of Technology and University of Johannesburg. Support the show

Send us Fan MailDr. Tia Rains, Ph.D., is Vice President of Customer Engagement & Strategic Development at Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America, Inc., a division of Japanese food and biotechnology Ajinomoto Corporation, which produces seasonings, cooking oils, frozen foods, beverage, sweeteners, amino acids, and pharmaceuticals. Dr. Rains has over 20 years of experience working on health and wellness initiatives within the food and beverage sector, and enjoys working at the intersection of nutrition research and communications, with the goal of advancing credible research in nutrition and developing truthful messaging on new research results in the context of the body of nutrition evidence. Dr. Rains most recently headed up the Egg Nutrition Center (ENC) as it’s Executive Director. Prior to joining ENC, Dr. Rains was the Senior Director of Metabolic Sciences at Biofortis Clinical Research, a global contract research organization specializing in the design and conduct of clinical research for leading food, beverage, and supplement companies around the world. Prior to that, Dr. Rains held several positions within the Research & Development department of Kraft Foods, including roles in nutrition research and product development. Dr. Rains holds a BS in Food Science & Human Nutrition from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from University of Illinois. She has authored more than 40 scientific articles and book chapters and is a frequent public speaker at universities, health professional meetings, and industry events.Support the show

Send us Fan MailMr. Bakary Tandia is a well-respected and dynamic human rights advocate with an extensive background in promoting human rights and social justice causes and Co-Founder of The Abolition Institute, a group working to promote awareness of, and dedicated to ending, the practice of slavery in the west African country of Mauritania. Mr. Tandia is a graduate of the Global Masters Program in International Affairs, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and holds bachelor degrees in International Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice City University of New York and Criminology from the University of Abidjan (Ivory Coast). In addition to that, Mr. Tandia is a graduate of the Human Rights Advocates Program, Columbia University where he served as an Advocacy Workshop facilitator helping to educate and empower human rights activists around the world. Mr. Sean Tenner, the other co-founder of the Abolition Institute, is President, KNI Communications, and as a graduate of Georgetown University, has spent his career working for organizations and officials dedicated to social justice and the public interest. Mr. Tenner served on President Obama’s campaign staff during both his U.S. Senate and Presidential campaigns and has held leadership roles in a wide variety of innovative non-profit organizations addressing both local and global issues. Mr. Tenner helps lead Illinois public policy for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, one of the world’s leading anti-hate groups; was appointed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn in 2012 – and reappointed in 2015 – to the Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission; was an early leader in the Save Darfur movement in Illinois and works closely with refugees from the violence in Darfur and South Sudan who have built new lives in Chicago. Mr. Tenner also works with Chicagoans who fled Apartheid in South Africa, serving on the Board of Color Me Africa Fine Arts which brings Apartheid-era protest artists to Chicagoland to share their stories and their lessons in perseverance. Mr. Tenner has done work related to post-conflict reconciliation in both Rwanda and Northern Ireland, and has also been profiled by CNN for his work co-founding the Abolition Institute. Mr. Tenner is also former President of Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Chicagoland Affiliate and has also worked to address the epidemic of youth suicides through his work on the Board of Directors of Hope for the Day / Sip of Hope -- one of the nation’s most innovative mental health organizations.Support the show

Send us Fan MailDr. Neta Lavon is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Vice President of R&D at Aleph Farms, a cultivated meat company that is shaping the future of food by growing high-quality, slaughter-free beef steaks directly from cow cells, preserving natural resources, and avoiding the use of antibiotics. Dr. Lavon is an expert in stem cell applications in biotechnology. In her previous position as the COO of Kadimastem (KDST), she developed cell therapy products from stem cells for ALS and Diabetes. As a researcher in Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, USA, Dr. Lavon established and banked 25 novel pluripotent stem cell lines. Dr. Lavon holds a PhD, an M.Sc. in Biotechnology and B.Sc. in Food Sciences from the Hebrew University, Israel.Support the show

Send us Fan MailAshley Llorens  is Vice President, Distinguished Scientist & Managing Director, at Microsoft Research Outreach, where he leads a global team to amplify the impact of research at Microsoft and to advance the cause of science and technology research around the world. His team is responsible for driving strategy and execution for Microsoft Research engagement with the rest of Microsoft and with the broader science and technology community, and they invest in high-impact collaborative research projects on behalf of the company, create pipelines for diverse, world-class talent, and generate awareness of the current and envisioned future impact of science and technology research. Prior to joining Microsoft, Mr. Llorens served as the founding chief of the Intelligent Systems Center at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), where he directed research and development in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and neuroscience and created APL’s first enterprise-wide AI strategy and technology roadmap. During his two decades at APL, Mr. Llorens led interdisciplinary teams in developing novel AI technologies from concept to real-world application with a focus on autonomous systems. His background is in machine learning and signal processing and current research interests include reinforcement learning for real-world systems, machine decision-making under uncertainty, human-machine teaming, and practical AI safety. As a subject matter expert in AI and autonomous systems, Mr Llorens has served on advisory boards and strategic studies for the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Academy of Sciences. He was recently nominated by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to serve as an AI expert on the Global Partnership on AI and was elected to serve as the Science Representative on its inaugural steering committee. Alongside Mr. Llorens career in engineering, while earning his B.S. and M.S. at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he pursued a parallel career as a hip-hop artist, also known as SoulStice, founding Wandering Soul Records and serves as a voting member of the Recording Academy, the institution that organizes the Grammys.Support the show