KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology

The KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology established in 2011
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), the highest authority in reproductive medicine, established the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology in recognition of his world-class achievements in stem cell and fertility research.  This prize was created to promote innovative research on stem cell technologies and motivate young researchers.

2024 Awardee
Dr. Jaroslav Slamecka

Dr. Jaroslav Slamecka
Dr. Jaroslav Slamecka from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) was selected as the 11th recipient of the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology. Dr. Slamecka is a cell biologist who studies human pluripotent stem cells, researching their transition to a fully pluripotent state and a sub-pluripotent state, as well as their differentiation into somatic and extra-embryonic lineages. After completing his postdoctoral training at the Mitchell Cancer Research Institute at the University of South Alabama, he worked as a researcher at the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. He is currently a research leader at the Department of Pathology at the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Slamecka received the KY Cha Award for his research analyzing the significant contributions of transcription and RNA turnover in the transition from pluripotent stem cells to pure human pluripotent stem cells and their differentiation into trophectoderm. Dr. Slamecka expressed, "This award is particularly special as it is given by someone who has developed standard treatments in the field of infertility and reproductive medicine, achieving global success and accomplishments. I am committed to furthering this research to enhance our understanding of cellular transitions and to model and study the normal biological processes occurring during the development and implantation of the human blastocyst."

2023 Awardee
Dr. Xavier Santamaria

Dr. Xavier Santamaria
Dr. Xavier Santamaria, a medical scientist from the United States, was selected as the 10th recipient of the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology. Dr. Santamaria, an obstetrician-gynecologist, majored in reproductive endocrinology at Yale University in the U.S. and obtained a graduate fellowship in infertility before earning his PhD from the Autonoma University of Barcelona in Spain. He then conducted research and provided clinical care at IVI Fertility, one of the world's top three infertility centers, building a record of notable achievements.

Dr. Santamaria received the KY Cha Award for his research on the impact of CD133+ bone marrow-derived stem cells on maternal-fetal interactions in patients with Asherman's syndrome. Dr. Santamaria expressed, "I consider it an immense honor to receive this award, and I will continue to dedicate myself to treating patients suffering from infertility, including those with Asherman's syndrome, and driving greater progress in the field of reproductive medicine through further research."

2022 Awardee
Prof. Rachel West

Prof. Rachel West
Professor Rachel West of Auburn University, USA, was selected as the 9th recipient of the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology. Professor West, from the Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, was recognized for her research on the sexual dimorphism of the placenta's innate immune response using 3D human trophoblast stem cells. It is known that the sex of the embryo is a factor related to early pregnancy loss, and Professor West conducted research on how the innate placental immune system differs based on the embryo's sex, focusing on male embryos' susceptibility and implantation failure.

If this research is successfully carried out, it could provide groundbreaking results in identifying genes related to the vulnerability of male embryos to implantation failure, and this discovery is expected to contribute to the development of biomarkers for predicting implantation failure or miscarriage, as well as to the development of treatments in the long term.

2020 Awardee
Prof. Marina Pryzhkova

Prof. Marina Pryzhkova
Dr. Marina Pryzhkova, an Assistant Scientist from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, was selected as the 8th winner of the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology. Dr. Marina Pryzhkova was recognized for her research on Human Gonad Organoid System. In 2007, she succeeded in the derivation of the first human parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells. Currently, she is working on various research fields such as gene editing through technologies including CRISPR-Cas9, degron-based (N-degron and C-degron) protein degradation system, transgenic animal (mouse) models, and human reproduction based on embryonic stem cells.

2019 Awardee
Dr. GUSTAVO MOSTOSLAVSK

Dr. GUSTAVO MOSTOSLAVSK
Dr. Gustavo Mostoslavsky, an Associate Professor of Medicine and Microbiology at the Boston University School of Medicine, was selected as the 7th winner of the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology. Dr. Mostoslavsky was recognized for his research project “Embryonic Stem Cell Modeling of Intestinal Differentiation” that greatly increased the possibility of using intestinal differentiation of embryonic stem cell for regenerative medicine.

2018 Awardee
Dr. Zhengshan Zhao

Dr. Zhengshan Zhao
Dr. Zhengshan Zhao, a professor of Environmental and Biological Science at the Texas A&M University, was awarded as the 6th winner of the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology. Dr. Zhengshan Zhao succeeded in dividing stem cells into cardiomyocytes using human cardiac RNA through the research project called “Treatment of damaged cardiomyocytes in experimental animal models using human cardiac RNA” and was applauded for greatly increasing the likelihood of treating heart disease.

2017 Awardee
Dr. Philip Jordan

Dr. Philip Jordan
Dr. Philip Jordan, from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Johns Hopkins University, was awarded as the 5th winner of the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology. Dr. Philip Jordan is a young medical scientist who was noted for his research project, “Development of a Cell-Based Diagnostic Analysis of Male Infertility,” and he conducted research to identify and analyze the genes involved in the meiosis and formation of eggs and sperm. Now, he is doing a research on factors related to stem cell division. In addition, he has developed a method for effectively diagnosing male infertility using specimens, and continues to do a research on producing spermatogonial stem cells and male reproductive cells from stem cells and applying them to future regenerative medicine and assisted reproductive technology.

2016 Awardee
Dr. Yossi Buganim

Dr. Yossi Buganim
Dr. Yossi Buganim, Ph.D., chief researcher at the Institute of Developmental Biology and Cancer at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, was awarded as the 4th winner of the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology. Dr. Yossi Buganim is a young medical scientist who was noted for his research project, "Development of a bioassay to evaluate the function of trophoblast stem cells produced for the treatment of placental dysfunction syndrome." The application of Dr. Yossi Buganim's work to human cells opens the way for women with habitual miscarriage or placental dysfunction syndrome to conceive and give birth to healthy babies.

2015 Awardee
Dr. Jatin Patel

Dr. Jatin Patel
Dr. Jatin Patel, a medical researcher at University of Queensland, was awarded as the third winner of the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology. Dr. Jatin Patel is a young medical scientist who was noted for his research on treatment and tissue regeneration of vascular diseases using placental vascular endothelial progenitor cells and mesenchymal stem cells. In addition, he developed a new technique for the pure separation of placental vascular endothelial progenitor cells and mesenchymal stem cells from the fetal side of the placenta which paved the way for the development of new treatments for ischemic diseases.

2014 Awardee
Prof. Carlos Simón Vallés

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Carlos Simón Vallés, who is serving as a professor at
the University of Valencia Department of Obstetrics
and Gynecology and is a clinical professor at Stanford
University, was selected as the 2014 winner of the
KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology. Professor Vallés has
been studying embryo implantation mechanisms and
reproductive cells since 1991. He was also recognized
as the scientist who conducted the most proactive
studies from 2003 to 2005. His research is focused
on proving his hypothesis that human somatic cells
can be reprogrammed as reproductive cells. CHA
Medical Group and ASRM selected Professor Vallés as
the winner of the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology after
vigorously evaluating the potential of his research.

2013 Awardee
Dr. David E Reichman and Dr. Erin Foran Wolff

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Dr. David E. Reichman of the ‘Ronal O. Perelman and
Claudia Cohen Center’ at Cornell University and Dr.
Erin Foran Wolff of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver
National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development were selected as the first winners of
the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Technology. Dr. Reichman
gained international recognition for his paper ‘Clinical
application of heart endothelial cells derived from
human embryonic stem cells’ and Dr. Wolff greatly
contributed to the development of reproductive
medicine with her paper ‘Stem cell transplantation as
treatment for premature menopause’.

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