Dr. Atul Malhotra
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Senior Consultant Neonatologist and Head of the Early Neurodevelopment Clinic at Monash Children's Hospital and Associate Professor (Research) & NHMRC Fellow in the Department of Paediatrics, Monash University.

Associate Professor Atul Malhotra is a Senior Consultant Neonatologist and Head of the Early Neurodevelopment Clinic at Monash Children's Hospital and Associate Professor (Research) & NHMRC Fellow in the Department of Paediatrics, Monash University. He has published over 120 peer-reviewed journal articles, 4 book chapters and his research has attracted over $7.5 million of funding to date. He is also the co-Director of the Newborn Cell Therapies Group at Monash, which has been instrumental in the translation of preclinical therapies from the laboratory to the clinic, including regenerative cell therapies. He led a world-first trial of placental amnion epithelial cells for chronic lung disease of prematurity, and is the Principal Investigator of two cord blood derived cell therapy trials currently recruiting.

Dr. Lindsay Zhou
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Consultant Neonatologist at Monash Children's Hospital and a PhD student at the Ritchie Centre and Department of Paediatrics, Monash University.

Dr Lindsay Zhou is a Consultant Neonatologist at Monash Children's Hospital and a PhD student at the Ritchie Centre and Department of Paediatrics, Monash University. Dr. Zhou undertook his paediatric and neonatal training in Melbourne, and also works as a Retrieval Consultant at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. His PhD studies focus on umbilical cord-blood derived cell therapy applications for extremely preterm infants. He is an Associate Investigator on the CordSaFe clinical trial, investigating the safety and feasibility of umbilical cord blood-derived cell collection and administration in infants born at less than 28 weeks.

Mitchell Horwitz, M.D.

​Adult Blood and Marrow Transplant Program and Professor of Medicine at the Duke University Medical Center

​With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Horwitz specializes in allogeneic stem cell transplantation using umbilical cord blood grafts; allogenic stem cell transplantation for Sickle Cell Disease; prevention of acute graft versus host disease through donor stem cell graft manipulation; and improving immune recovery following alternative donor stem cell transplantation using donor graft manipulation or third party thymus transplantation.

The legacy of Dr. Hal Broxmeyer is felt strongly by his colleagues and the cord blood industry at large. He rightfully earned the title, "Father of Cord Blood."  While his passing in 2021 left us with a true sense of loss, we are forever grateful to him and his colleagues for the innovative work they have done over the years and, in particular, Dr. Broxmeyer's discovery regarding the ability to collect and store cord blood for future use in stem cell transplants, if prepared and frozen promptly after the birth of a child. Given this, it does seem appropriate that one of his last research projects was related to temperature. He and his team sought to answer. . . How does temperature affect the quality of collections and processing of cord blood for stem cell transplants? 

To answer this question and dive deep into this research led by Broxmeyer's lab, we have invited Dr. Maegan Capitano to speak on Share the Science. As the Assistant Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at the Indiana University School of Medicine,  Dr. Capitanto will go in-depth on her latest research undertaken with Dr. Broxmeyer regarding how collecting and processing human cord blood at 4°C within minutes of the baby's birth results in significantly enhanced numbers of rigorously defined phenotypic and functional hematopoietic stem cells.

During this session, Dr. Capitano will discuss a variety of studies from the late Dr. Hal Broxmeyer that show how hematopoietic stem cell numbers collected in cord blood at the birth of a baby is a limiting factor for efficacious use of cord blood in hematopoietic cell transplantation.

We are honoured to have Dr. Capitano join us for this very special edition of Share the Science. Please join us and learn more about this group's amazing work in the world of cord blood.

Maegan L. Capitano earned her B.A. in Biology from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2004. During her summers in college, she worked at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the laboratory of Dr. Bo Dupont as a laboratory technician where she developed a passion for research. She next went on to earn a M.S. in Natural Science-Oncology in 2006 and her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology in 2012 at the State University of New York at Buffalo- Roswell Park Cancer Center Division under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Repasky. There she was given the George Meyer’s Award for Proficiency and Academic Excellence in Immunology.

She received her post-doctoral training (2012-2020) and worked as an Assistant Research Professor in the laboratory of Dr. Hal Broxmeyer at Indiana University School of Medicine focusing on Experimental Hematology. In 2021, she joined the faculty of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Indiana University School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Capitano’s research focuses on discovering potential new agents that regulate hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell migration, proliferation, differentiation, and survival capacity under normal and stressed conditions. The Capitano lab strives to discover novel methods to 1) improve collection of donor cells for transplant so that the pool of eligible donors is increased and to 2) enhance the efficacy of donor cell engraftment thus shortening the hospitalization/isolation time of patients and subsequently decreasing treatment costs.