Michael Heke

Mike has a PhD in Biology and started his career in pharmaceutical research in industry (Bayer AG) with an emphasis on cardiovascular research. In 2001, he shifted his interests towards stem cell research and its translational potential, and later co-led clinical trials for stem cell therapy in heart failure at Düsseldorf’s University Medical School. During his tenure as Head of Department of Knowledge Management at the Institute of Neurophysiology, University of Cologne, he was appointed as the Scientific Coordinator of the large-scale collaborative EU-Projects ESNATS and DETECTIVE, and served as SEB member of the SEURAT-1 integrated research strategy. He was secretary to the German Society for Stem Cell Research (GSZ), and co-initiated the German Stem Cell Network (GSCN), being appointed by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). In 2013, he returned to The Rockefeller University, New York, where he assumed a position as Deputy Head of Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology & Molecular Embryology. In 2016, he joined the President’s laboratory at Stanford University as a Senior Research Scientist and acts as the Lab Manager for the Tessier-Lavigne lab.