Jan Nolta, Ph.D.

Professor
Institute for Regenerative Cures
2921 Stockton Blvd, Room 1300
Sacramento Campus
916-703-9308
janolta@ucdavis.edu

Dr. Nolta is the Director of the Stem Cell Program at UC Davis School of Medicine, and directs the new Institute for Regenerative Cures. The UC Davis stem cell program has over 145 faculty members collaborating to work toward stem cell-related cures for a spectrum of diseases and injuries. The current research in Dr. Nolta’s laboratory is focused on developing therapies that will use mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to deliver factors for treating Huntington’s disease and other disorders and injuries. Her group focuses on “bench to the bedside” research, and she has been involved in numerous clinical trials of gene and cell therapy. She is scientific director of the new Good Manufacturing Practice clean room facility at UC Davis, where stem cells of different types are being isolated or expanded for clinical trials.

The basic research in the Nolta laboratory focuses on understanding the dynamics of stem cell migration and attraction to sites of injury. Following intravenous infusion, adult stem cells home to sites of tissue damage. Areas studied are cellular response to hypoxia and chemokines, cell motility, cell-to-cell interactions, and paracrine factors secreted by MSC at the site of injury.

Nolta, J. A.Research Leads to Approved Therapies in the New Era of Living Medicine”. Jan 1 2018 In: Stem Cells. 36, 1, p. 1-3 3 p.

Fierro, F. A., Nolta, J. A. & Adamopoulos, I. E. “Concise Review: Stem Cells in Osteoimmunology”. 2017 (Accepted/In press) In: Stem Cells.

Nolta, J. A.Cutting Edge Advances in Stem Cell Biology and Therapy”. Jan 1 2017 In: Stem Cells. 35, 1, p. 1-2 2 p.

Harding, A., Cortez-Toledo, E., Magner, N. L., Beegle, J. R., Coleal-Bergum, D. P., Hao, D., Wang, A., Nolta, J. A. & Zhou, P. “Highly Efficient Differentiation of Endothelial Cells from Pluripotent Stem Cells Requires the MAPK and the PI3K Pathways”. Apr 1 2017 In: Stem Cells. 35, 4, p. 909-919 11 p.

Moisseiev, E., Anderson, J. D., Oltjen, S., Goswami, M., Zawadzki, R. J., Nolta, J. A. & Park, S. S. “Protective Effect of Intravitreal Administration of Exosomes Derived from Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Retinal Ischemia”. Jun 22 2017 (Accepted/In press) In: Current Eye Research. p. 1-10 10 p.

Park, S. S., Moisseiev, E., Bauer, G., Anderson, J. D., Grant, M. B., Zam, A., Zawadzki, R. J., Werner, J. S. & Nolta, J. A.Advances in bone marrow stem cell therapy for retinal dysfunction”. Aug 2 2016 (Accepted/In press) In: Progress in Retinal and Eye Research.

Jung, Y. & Nolta, J. A.BMI1 regulation of self-renewal and multipotency in human mesenchymal stem cells”. Jan 1 2016 In: Current Stem Cell Research and Therapy. 11, 2, p. 131-140 10 p.

Deng, P., Anderson, J. D., Yu, A. S., Annett, G., Fink, K. D. & Nolta, J. A.Engineered BDNF producing cells as a potential treatment for neurologic disease”. Aug 2 2016 In: Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy. 16, 8, p. 1025-1033 9 p.

Lakatos, K., Kalomoiris, S., Merkely, B., Nolta, J. A. & Fierro, F. A. “Mesenchymal Stem Cells Respond to Hypoxia by Increasing Diacylglycerols”. Feb 1 2016 In: Journal of Cellular Biochemistry. 117, 2, p. 300-307 8 p.

Kol, A., Arzi, B., Athanasiou, K. A., Farmer, D. L., Nolta, J. A., Rebhun, R. B., Chen, X., Griffiths, L. G., Verstraete, F. J. M., Murphy, C. J. & Borjesson, D. L. “Companion animals: Translational scientist's new best friends”. Oct 7 2015 In : Science Translational Medicine. 7, 308, 308ps21

Black, A. B., Dahlenburg, H., Pepper, K., Nacey, C., Pontow, S., Kuhn, M. A., Belafsky, P. C. & Nolta, J. A.Human Myoblast and Mesenchymal Stem Cell Interactions Visualized by Videomicroscopy”. Dec 1 2015 In: Human gene therapy methods. 26, 6, p. 193-196 4 p.

Plowman, E. K., Bijangi-Vishehsaraei, K., Halum, S., Cates, D., Hanenberg, H., Domer, A. S., Nolta, J. A. & Belafsky, P. C. “Autologous myoblasts attenuate atrophy and improve tongue force in a denervated tongue model: A pilot study”. Feb 2014 In: Laryngoscope. 124, 2

Lee, J. K., Responte, D. J., Cissell, D. D., Hu, J. C., Nolta, J. A. & Athanasiou, K. A. “Clinical translation of stem cells: Insight for cartilage therapies”. Mar 2014 In: Critical Reviews in Biotechnology. 34, 1, p. 89-100 12 p.

Jung, Y. & Nolta, J. A.Genetically engineered mesenchymal stem cells for cell and gene therapy”. Jan 1 2013 Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy. Humana Press Inc., p. 321-354 34 p.

Murphy, W. J. & Nolta, J. A.Autoimmune T cells lured to a FASL web of death by MSCs”. May 4 2012 In: Cell Stem Cell. 10, 5, p. 485-487 3 p.

Guan, M., Yao, W., Liu, R., Lam, K. S., Nolta, J., Jia, J., Panganiban, B., Meng, L., Zhou, P., Shahnazari, M., Ritchie, R. O. & Lane, N. E. “Directing mesenchymal stem cells to bone to augment bone formation and increase bone mass”. Mar 2012 In: Nature Medicine. 18, 3, p. 456-462 7 p.

Gruenloh, W., Kambal, A., Sondergaard, C., McGee, J., Nacey, C., Kalomoiris, S., Pepper, K., Olson, S., Fierro, F. & Nolta, J. A.Characterization and in vivo testing of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human embryonic stem cells”. Jun 1 2011 In : Tissue Engineering - Part A. 17, 11-12, p. 1517-1525 9 p.

Fierro, F. A., Kalomoiris, S., Sondergaard, C. S. & Nolta, J. A.Effects on proliferation and differentiation of multipotent bone marrow stromal cells engineered to express growth factors for combined cell and gene therapy”. Nov 2011 In : Stem Cells. 29, 11, p. 1727-1737 11 p.

I. Rosová, D. Link, and J. Nolta. “Small Interfering RNA-Mediated Decreases in c-Met Levels Affect the Differentiation Potential of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Reduce Their Capacity for Tissue Repair”. Tissue Engineering. 2010 Aug;16(8):2627-39.

C Sondergaard, D Hess, D Maxwell, C Weinheimer, I Rosová, M Creer, D Piwnica-Worms, A Kovacs, L Pedersen, and J Nolta. “Human UCB Progenitors with High ALDH Activity Improve Vascular Density in Acute Myocardial Infarction”. Journal of Translational Medicine. 2010; 8: 24.

Capoccia BJ, Robson DL, Levac KD, Maxwell DJ, Hohm SA, Neelamkavil MJ, Bell GI, Xenocostas A, Link DC, Piwnica-Worms D, Nolta JA, Hess DA. “Revascularization of ischemic limbs after transplantation of human stem cells with high aldehyde dehydrogenase activity”. Blood 2009 21 May, 113 ( 21): 5340-5351.

D. Maxwell, J. Bonde, D. Hess, M. Creer, R. Lahey, D. Piwnica-Worms, and J. Nolta. “Fluorophore-conjugated iron oxide nanoparticle labeling and analysis of engrafting human stem cells”. Stem Cells. 2008 Feb;26(2):517-24.

Rosová I, Dao MA, Capoccia BJ, Link DC, Hess DA, Nolta JA. “Hypoxic Preconditioning Results in Increased Motility and Improved Therapeutic Potential of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells”. Stem Cells. 2008 Aug;26(8):2173-82.

D. Hess, T. Craft, L. Wirthlin, W. Eades, M. Creer, M. Sands, J. Nolta. “Widespread nonhematopoietic tissue distribution by transplanted human progenitor cells with high aldehyde dehydrogenase activity”. Stem Cells. 2008 Mar;26(3):611-20.

Recent Books, Invited Articles, and Chapters (Selected, 3 of 20)

  • Meyerrose TM, Herrbrich P, Wang X, Dao MA, Nolta JA. Pluripotent human stem cell analysis in immune deficient mice. The Pluripotential Hematopoietic Stem Cell, Eurekah Press, 2003.
  • Meyerrose TE, Herrbrich P, Hess DA, Nolta JA. Immune-deficient mouse models for analysis of human stem cells. Biotechniques. Dec;35 (6):1262-72, 2003.
  • Meyerrose T, Rosova I, Dao M, Bauer G, Nolta JA. Establishment and transduction of primary human mesenchymal stem cell monolayers. Chapter 2 in Genetic Engineering of Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Kluwer, pp 45-58. Nolta JA (Editor). Feb 2006.
  • National Institutes of Health
  • California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
  • International Society of Hematology New Investigator Award, 1996
  • Research Career and Development Award, CHLA Research Institute, 1996
  • James Shannon Directors Award, NIH NIDDK, 1997
  • Huntington's Deisease Society of America Distinguished Leadership Award, 2008
  • Associate Editor, Stem Cells, February 2008 - present
  • California State University, Sacramento Distinguished Service Award, 2009
  • BIM 272, Biomedical Engineering Graduate Course
  • BIO 186A, Stem Cell Technology and Medical Applications
  • BMB 290, Medical Applications of Stem Cell Technology
  • CLH 250, Integrating Medicine Into Basic Science
  • HON 493, Cancer as a Process Special Study Module
  • MCB/ECH 294, Current Progress in Biotechnology
  • 271/272, Tissue Engineering Class
  • Hematopoiesis 101: Scholars of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
  • Human Stem Cell Sorting, UC Davis Biotechnology Program Short Course on Flow Cytometry Special Summer Session
  • Howard Hughes Medical Students Special Summer Session
  • UC Davis Biotechnology Program Short Course on Flow Cytometry Special Summer Session
  • Stem Cells 101, Stem Cells in the Study and Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases, UCD/CSUS Bridges CIRM Stem Cell Program