Please join Wayne State University's Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) and Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors (CURES) for their upcoming hybrid seminar on February 26, 2026 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. The seminar is free; registration is required.

The guest speaker will be Alejandro Soto-Gutiérrez, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Soto-Gutiérrez will present, "Therapeutic Transcriptional Reprogramming using mRNA-based medicines to treat End-Stage Organ Disease."

Abstract: End-stage organ failure has few therapeutic options beyond transplantation. This talk will highlight therapeutic transcriptional reprogramming using mRNA-based medicines as a strategy to restore organ function. Focusing on lipid nanoparticle delivery of key transcription factors such as HNF4α, the presentation will review preclinical evidence demonstrating reversal of liver dysfunction in rodent models of cirrhosis and transient restoration of essential hepatic proteins in explanted human livers. The translational potential of this approach will be discussed, including clinical feasibility, outpatient delivery, and extension of mRNA-driven reprogramming to other organs such as the kidney, lung, and heart.

Biography: 

Alejandro Soto-Gutiérrez, M.D., Ph.D. is professor and vice chair of the Department of Pathology and the Endowed Chair of Experimental Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He directs the Center for Transcriptional Medicine. He also holds appointments at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, UPMC Children’s Hospital, and the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute. He is the author of over 115 peer-reviewed publications, eight book chapters, and an edited volume on methods in cell transplantation. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Organogenesis.

Dr. Soto-Gutiérrez’s research focuses on regenerative medicine and transcriptional reprogramming strategies to treat end-stage liver disease (ESLD). His laboratory has developed mRNA-based approaches to deliver master transcription factors that restore liver function and reverse cirrhosis in both preclinical models and ex-vivo human livers. This work has led to several patents, high-impact publications, and the founding of Starup companies.

His group also engineers human (patient-specific) liver tissues from iPS cells to study disease mechanisms, therapeutic gene targets, and transplant applications. His team pioneered “mini-human fatty livers” to model non-alcoholic liver disease and investigate epigenetic drivers of metabolic dysfunction.

He is founding co-director of the Center for Transcriptional Medicine, a collaborative program uniting over 40 researchers across eight institutions. The Center integrates human organ explants, systems biology, mRNA design, and delivery systems to reprogram failing organs in situ—focusing on chronic liver, lung, and kidney disease. The team includes multidisciplinary leaders such as Nobel Laureate Dr. Drew Weissman.

We hope  you are able to join us for this interesting talk.