Christopher M. Sturgeon: stem cell research's challenges
Aspen Prize 2026
Interview with Christopher M. Sturgeon, Associate Professor Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (NY), conducted by Rai Cultura on the occasion of the 2026 Aspen Prize award ceremony.
The award, now in its eleventh edition, was awarded to the study Identification of a Retinoic Acid-Dependent Haemogenic Endothelial Progenitor from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells, published in the journal Nature Cell Biology and dedicated to the mechanisms of stem cell generation in the laboratory: the collaboration between Andrea Dipadi's laboratory at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy and Christopher Sturgeon's laboratory at the Black Family Stem Cell Institute of the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York - one of the few centers in the world to conduct these studies - has made it possible to identify the role of retinoic acid, also known as vitamin A, in guiding and promoting the generation of blood stem cells in the laboratory.
The award, now in its eleventh edition, was awarded to the study Identification of a Retinoic Acid-Dependent Haemogenic Endothelial Progenitor from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells, published in the journal Nature Cell Biology and dedicated to the mechanisms of stem cell generation in the laboratory: the collaboration between Andrea Dipadi's laboratory at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy and Christopher Sturgeon's laboratory at the Black Family Stem Cell Institute of the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York - one of the few centers in the world to conduct these studies - has made it possible to identify the role of retinoic acid, also known as vitamin A, in guiding and promoting the generation of blood stem cells in the laboratory.