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Kapil Bharti PhD
Senior Investigator
National Institutes of Health
USA
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Dr. Kapil Bharti obtained his Ph.D. from J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, graduating summa cum laude. His Ph.D. work involved research in the areas of molecular chaperones and epigenetics. He did his postdoc at the National Institutes of Health, where he published numerous papers in the areas of transcription regulation, pigment cell biology, and developmental biology of the eye. His lab at the National Eye Institute recently received started the first U.S. phase I/IIa trial to test autologous iPSC-derived RPE patch in AMD patients. Currently, he is co-developing a dual RPE/photoreceptor cell therapy with Opsis Therapeutics. He has given several keynote lectures, won several awards including being the first Earl Stadtman Tenure Track Investigator at NEI, NIH Director’s award, NEI Director’s Dr. Karl Kupfer Visionary award, and 12th Sayer Vision Research lecture at NEI for his revolutionary work on developing ocular cell-therapies. He serves on the advisory board (pro bono) of several companies and patient-advocacy groups. His current work as a Senior Investigator at NEI involves understanding mechanism of retinal degenerative diseases using induced pluripotent stem cell derived eye cells and tissues, and developing cell-based and drug-based therapies for such diseases.