b'16ABSTR ACT / BIOGR APHYDoug Melton, Ph.D.Xander University Professor, Harvard and Co-Director of theHarvard Stem Cell InstituteUsing Stem Cells to Make Designer Islets for DiabeticsThe possibility of using stem cell-derived islets to treat insulin-dependent diabetes will be discussed. Methods for differentiating cells into normal, functional endocrine cells will be described as well as methods for genetic modification and screening to create designer islets from stem cells.Dr. Melton earned a bachelors degree in biology from the University of Illinois and then went to Cambridge University in England as a Marshall Scholar. He earned a B.A. in history and philosophy of science at Cambridge University and remained there to earn a Ph.D. in molecular biology at Trinity College, Cambridge, and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Dr. Melton teaches undergraduates at Harvard College as well as graduate courses at the Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School. He was the scientific co-founder of Gilead, Curis, and iPierian and the founder of Semma Therapeutics, now part of Vertex. He serves as a consultant to Vertex and FPrime. Along with his wife, Gail OKeefe, Dr. Melton served as theCo-Master of Eliot House at Harvard College from 2010-2020.'