Sarafan ChEM-H
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Sergiu P. Pasca
Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Bonnie Uytengsu and Family Director of the Stanford Brain Organogenesis Program and Senior Fellow, by courtesy, at the Hoover Institution
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsA critical challenge in understanding the intricate programs underlying development, assembly and dysfunction of the human brain is the lack of direct access to intact, functioning human brain tissue for detailed investigation by imaging, recording, and stimulation.
To address this, we are developing bottom-up approaches to generate and assemble, from multi-cellular components, human neural circuits in vitro and in vivo.
We introduced the use of instructive signals for deriving from human pluripotent stem cells self-organizing 3D cellular structures named brain region-specific spheroids/organoids. We demonstrated that these cultures, such as the ones resembling the cerebral cortex, can be reliably derived across many lines and experiments, contain synaptically connected neurons and non-reactive astrocytes, and can be used to gain mechanistic insights into genetic and environmental brain disorders. Moreover, when maintained as long-term cultures, they recapitulate an intrinsic program of maturation that progresses towards postnatal stages.
We also pioneered a modular system to integrate 3D brain region-specific organoids and study human neuronal migration and neural circuit formation in functional preparations that we named assembloids. We have actively applied these models in combination with studies in long-term ex vivo brain preparations to acquire a deeper understanding of human physiology, evolution and disease mechanisms.
We have carved a unique research program that combines rigorous in vivo and in vitro neuroscience, stem cell and molecular biology approaches to construct and deconstruct previously inaccessible stages of human brain development and function in health and disease.
We believe science is a community effort, and accordingly, we have been advancing the field by broadly and openly sharing our technologies with numerous laboratories around the world and organizing the primary research conference and the training courses in the area of cellular models of the human brain. -
Rebecca Pinals
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
BioThe brain is a fascinatingly complex and delicate system of biomolecules, cells, and dynamic interactions that must be carefully maintained to support human health. When this balance is disrupted, disease can arise. Neurodegenerative dementias including Alzheimer’s disease are highly prevalent and profoundly devastating, yet remain largely untreatable or incurable.
The Pinals Lab engineers neuro-models and nano-tools to uncover mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease and intervene to halt—and even reverse—disease progression. A particular emphasis of our work is on the blood–brain barrier (BBB), the vascular interface that serves as the molecular gateway into the brain. We leverage human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to build 3D cellular systems, providing a platform to recapitulate human brain properties and pathologies. In parallel, we design nanoparticles to report on real-time neurochemical processes, enabling unprecedented access to dynamic and spatially resolved biomolecular phenomena, and to modulate disease states. By integrating advanced human brain tissue models with rationally designed nanotechnologies, we aim to generate fundamental insights and tools that translate into meaningful impacts for human health. -
Elizabeth Ponder
Executive Director, Sarafan ChEM-H
BioElizabeth Ponder is a recognized leader in innovation and translation at the non-profit / for profit interface. Ponder has spent 15+ years building and scaling high-impact research organizations at the intersection of biomedical innovation, global health, and drug development — focused on ensuring the human health impact of transformative scientific discoveries while fostering the next generation of scientists.
As Executive Director of Sarafan ChEM-H, Ponder leads the institute's efforts to drive academic innovation and training at the interface of molecular disciplines. Ponder oversees Sarafan ChEM-H's research, education, and translational programs, guiding initiatives that foster collaboration, innovation, and impact.
With over a decade at Stanford, Ponder has changed the landscape of interdisciplinary molecular research and training. Under her leadership, the institute recruited 19 faculty representing the “scientific maverick” phenotype from diverse fields of molecular research, including 2022 Nobel Prize laureate Carolyn Bertozzi; established an innovative Ph.D. training program (NIH and philanthropy-funded) serving 150+ doctoral trainees since 2015; and designed and opened a 235,000 sq ft interdisciplinary research complex to house the institute. Her responsibilities include oversight of strategy, planning, and operations for the institute.
Most recently, Ponder oversaw the design and implementation of the “Nucleus" as a scalable model for democratizing access to cutting-edge research technologies and expertise and leveraged the Nucleus infrastructure to support a 6-year pilot program for strategic translational investments in new medicines based on Stanford discoveries, the Stanford Innovative Medicines Accelerator. The Nucleus has touched more than 600 research projects in 200+ faculty labs across the Stanford campus contributing to patents, publications, and new grant funding. The translational portfolio included 135+ projects, 8 successful exits to VC-backed biotechnology companies, and 9 clinical trials of experimental therapeutics, including 2 first-in-human trials of experimental therapeutics discovered and developed entirely within Stanford. Ponder also played a critical role in external relationship management for the portfolio, ranging from key philanthropic donors to biopharmaceutical partners and venture capital investors.
Ponder was recognized for leadership excellence at Stanford through selection for Leadership@Stanford (2025 cohort) and the 2023 Marsh O'Neill Award for exceptional support of Stanford's research enterprise.
Before joining Stanford, Ponder led policy, research, and training initiatives at the global health - biopharmaceutical industry interface. She served as Executive Director of the Wheeler Center for Emerging & Neglected Diseases at UC Berkeley where she designed and launched new programs addressing neglected disease research. She also served in roles of increasing responsibility in Scientific Affairs at BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH), where she provided scientific leadership to project teams and executive leadership, advancing BVGH's mission to increase innovative biotech participation in drug, vaccine, and diagnostic development for neglected diseases of the developing world.
Ponder completed her Ph.D. and postdoctoral research at Stanford in the department of microbiology and immunology, supported by an NSF National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and Stanford Dean’s postdoctoral fellowship. She published multiple peer-reviewed scientific publications focused on protease function and drug target potential in Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes human malaria. Her early work in infectious diseases inspired her life-long passion for improving human health through scientific innovation. -
Matthew Porteus
Sutardja Chuk Professor of Definitive and Curative Medicine
BioDr. Porteus was raised in California and was a local graduate of Gunn High School before completing A.B. degree in “History and Science” at Harvard University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and wrote an thesis entitled “Safe or Dangerous Chimeras: The recombinant DNA controversy as a conflict between differing socially constructed interpretations of recombinant DNA technology.” He then returned to the area and completed his combined MD, PhD at Stanford Medical School with his PhD focused on understanding the molecular basis of mammalian forebrain development with his PhD thesis entitled “Isolation and Characterization of TES-1/DLX-2: A Novel Homeobox Gene Expressed During Mammalian Forebrain Development.” After completion of his dual degree program, he was an intern and resident in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and then completed his Pediatric Hematology/Oncology fellowship in the combined Boston Chidlren’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute program. For his fellowship and post-doctoral research he worked with Dr. David Baltimore at MIT and CalTech where he began his studies in developing homologous recombination as a strategy to correct disease causing mutations in stem cells as definitive and curative therapy for children with genetic diseases of the blood, particularly sickle cell disease. Following his training with Dr. Baltimore, he took an independent faculty position at UT Southwestern in the Departments of Pediatrics and Biochemistry before again returning to Stanford in 2010 as an Associate Professor. During this time his work has been the first to demonstrate that gene correction could be achieved in human cells at frequencies that were high enough to potentially cure patients and is considered one of the pioneers and founders of the field of genome editing—a field that now encompasses thousands of labs and several new companies throughout the world. His research program continues to focus on developing genome editing by homologous recombination as curative therapy for children with genetic diseases but also has interests in the clonal dynamics of heterogeneous populations and the use of genome editing to better understand diseases that affect children including infant leukemias and genetic diseases that affect the muscle. Clinically, Dr. Porteus attends at the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital where he takes care of pediatric patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
