Dr. Anne Bang is an experienced cell biologist and stem cell expert who leads efforts at the Prebys Center to develop patient cell specific and human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-based disease models for drug screening and target identification. Dr. Bang has over 20 years of experience in the fields of developmental and stem cell biology. She obtained a BS degree from Stanford University, a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of California, San Diego, and did postdoctoral training in the Neurobiology Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences where her studies focused on nervous system development.
Anne’s experience in stem cell biology began in 2005 when she joined ViaCyte, Inc. where she served as Director of Stem Cell Research and managed an interdisciplinary group working to develop human embryonic stem cells as a replenishable source of pancreatic cells for the treatment of diabetes. Her efforts focused on optimization of the differentiation process, and then on advancing the cell therapy product into development, scaled manufacturing, product characterization, and safety assessment. Anne is a co-inventor on multiple ViaCyte patents, and her team’s contributions played a key role in securing a $20 MM California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Award.
In June of 2010, Sanford Burnham Prebys recruited Anne as Director of Cell Biology to lead efforts in stem cell-based disease modeling at the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics. Her role includes leading internal research projects, as well as external collaborations with academic and industry partners. Anne’s research program is primarily focused on neurological and neuromuscular disease, with the aim of designing human cell-based models and assays that recapitulate disease phenotypes, yet have the throughput and reproducibility required for drug discovery. Towards this goal her group has worked to develop a suite of foundational high throughput assays to monitor neuronal morphology, mitochondrial function, and electrophysiology, using high content screening, and multi-electrode array formats. They have conducted high-throughput drug screens on muscular dystrophy patient cells, hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, and hiPSC-derived neurons, including from Alzheimer’s patient specific hiPSC. Anne is a principal investigator for the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) National Cooperative Reprogrammed Cell Research Groups consortium and has also received research support from rare disease foundations and pharma sponsored collaborations. She also serves on advisory boards for multiple biotechnology companies.