Keynote Speaker: Dr. Cassandra Juran

Dr. Cassandra Juran is stem cell and regenerative biologist with specific interests in mechanotransduction. She is currently a member of the Space Physiology Antibody and Cellular Engineering Laboratory (SPACElab) at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a Research Scientist with Blue Marble Space Institute of Science at NASA Ames in the Bone and Cell Signaling Lab. Dr. Juran received her doctoral degree from the University of Florida in Biomedical Engineering focusing on Tissue Engineering of the Temporomandibular Joint. She also has degrees in Biomechanics, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering uniquely enabling her research efforts that span engineering and fundamental bioscience. Dr. Juran was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by NASA to study the impact of spaceflight on osteogenesis and bone marrow stem cells. While at NASA, Dr. Juran became a co-investigator on the Rodent Research 10 mission investigating the role of Cdkn1a/P21 in osteogenic regeneration and how spaceflight impacts that regenerative role. Also, during her tenure at NASA, Dr. Juran participated in several other Rodent Research missions, design of molecular biology payloads, and engineering of life detection hardware. Much of Dr. Juran’s current research focuses on single cell and spatial transcriptomics data analysis, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning training for big data analysis and development of organoid/tissue-chip technology for application in astronaut-on-a-chip space biomedical research.