Dr. Michal Zalzman

Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Dr. Michal Zalzman has been a molecular cell biologist and an established stem-cells expert since 2000. She received her BSc from the University of Bar Ilan, Israel, MSc and PhD from Tel Aviv University, Israel, in the Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry. She then completed postdoctoral work at the National Institute of Aging/NIH, in the Developmental Genomics and Aging Section in the Laboratory of Genetics. She holds multiple worldwide patents from WIPO. Michal’s lab focuses on novel fundamental mechanisms controlling cellular immortality. Her team studies cellular immortality and telomere repair in two major systems: adult stem cells and cancer cells. Their goal is to characterize the components of a novel apparatus that allow cancer to bypass cell aging in order to ultimately allow the development of a new class of agents designed to target cancer immortality. The lab has also generated adult stem cell lines from multiple tissue sources. The teams develops novel protocols to enhance the replicative lifespan and the differentiation potential of adult stem cells. This research will allow the large scale expansion of adult stem cells required for future therapies of numerous diseases that are currently candidates for stem cell treatment.