Stem Cells

Stem Cells: An Alternative Therapy for COVID-19 and Cytokine Storm provides mechanistic insights into the role of stem cells to combat COVID-19 outbreak and other pathologies where cytokines storm is the cause of concern for e.g., radiation exposure, multiple organ failure and sepsis. There has been an increase in number of cases of new diseases in the last decade, including mucormycosis, Zika virus, H1N1 influenza virus, among others. These diseases can be characterized by the induction of cytokine storm, which is mainly responsible for morbidity and mortality.

Stem cell therapy has emerged as a potential treatment for viral diseases, including, but not limited to, COVID-19. Interestingly, clinical trials in patients with COVID-19 complications depicted faster recovery in patients post mesenchymal stem cells therapy owing to the decreased cytokines levels, anti-viral effects and regeneration of the infected tissue.

• Evaluates the role of MSCs to combat cytokine storm, the challenges regarding COVID-19 therapy and how they can be countered using stem cells, and the risk of opportunistic infections post COVID-19
• Presents how stem cell therapy has emerged as a potential treatment for viral diseases, including, but not limited to, COVID-19
• Provides a detailed understanding of the novel coronavirus, with an emphasis on therapeutic aspects

Dr. Yogesh Kumar Verma, MNABS, is working as Scientist ‘E’ in INMAS, DRDO, Delhi, India. He completed his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from Delhi University, India. He also has another M.Sc. degree in Bioinformatics from Punjab Technical University, India. In year 2009, he joined INMAS, DRDO, Delhi, India, as Scientist ‘C’. He is presently working in the area of stem cell research, microencapsulation, regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and omics data mining and analysis for repairing/ regenerating various types of tissues for Defence application. He has been awarded with many fellowships, project grants, and has published many articles including manuscripts, patents, book chapters etc.

Dr. Neeraj Kumar Satija PhD is working as a Senior Scientist at CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India. He completed his B.Tech and M.Tech in Biotechnology from School of Biotechnology, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, India. Thereafter, he undertook doctoral studies at Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, Delhi, India, elucidating role of Wnt signaling and its downstream target genes in mediating osteoblast differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells, and identified lithium as a priming agent for enhancing osteogenic differentiation potential of mesenchymal stem cells. In 2014, he joined CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India, as a Scientist. His group is working in varied disciples such as stem cell toxicology, embryonic stem cell differentiation, leukemia chemoresistance and wound healing. He has mentored a number of graduate/post-graduate students and is guiding Ph.D. scholars.

Dr. Pawan Kumar Raghav is currently a researcher the School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco. He is developing novel approaches for investigating immune/inflammatory mechanisms of allograft injury and discovering new biomarkers and therapeutics in solid organ and bone marrow transplantation. He is the recipient of several awards and honors, including the ICMR Travel Award to deliver an oral talk in 11th world congress & expo on cell & stem cell research in Orlando, FL; Research Excellence Award from the Institute of Scholars, best Research Award from Science Father, and was invitated to present the research proposal at BioMed X GmbH, Germany. He has published more than 40 publications, including international research articles, book chapters, books, and intellectual property rights for patents. He is also reviewer and editor of special collections for several international journals and books.

Nishant Tyagi MSc is an Indian-born Senior Research Fellow, presently working at Stem Cells and Gene Therapy Research Group, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences under Defence Research & Development Organisation, India. He graduated from Kirorimal College, University of Delhi, India, and completed his master’s degree from Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India, in Biotechnology. He is a recipient of several awards and fellowships like NET-JRF, IIT GATE, and DRDO fellowship. He joined the Stem Cells and Gene Therapy Research Group in 2018 and has maintained a proactive approach to the research project and input ideas along with solid knowledge and research experience in biomaterial science. He is currently working under the guidance of Dr. Yogesh Kumar Verma, Senior Scientist, INMAS, in multiple defense-funded projects and has published several publications and filed many patents.

Dr. Subodh Kumar is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Bioscience and Technology at Galgotias University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. He earned his Ph.D. in Life Sciences from the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Delhi in collaboration with Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil nadu, India. His doctoral research focused on the identification and evaluation of stem cell proliferators and the development of bioengineered scaffolds for soft tissue repair and regeneration. Dr. Kumar’s interdisciplinary research expertise spans stem cell biology, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and computational biology. To his credit, Dr. Kumar has published 25+ research and review papers in reputed international journals indexed in Scopus and SCI. He also holds a copyright and has applied for a patent on a bioengineered cornea.