New Frontiers: Manufacturing a Protein-Based Artificial Retina in Low Earth Orbit

ASGSR-Students Webinar with Dr. Nicole Wagner

About the talk:

Learn about the work that LambdaVision is doing to leverage the microgravity environment on the International Space Station to manufacture their protein-based artificial retina to restore vision to the millions of patients blinded by end-stage retinal degenerative diseases.

Bio:

Nicole Wagner, Ph.D. is president and CEO of LambdaVision, a biotechnology company developing a protein-based artificial retina to treat patients blinded by retinal degenerative diseases. Dr. Wagner has secured $10M in funding to accelerate research, development, and commercialization of the technology. Her research has recently involved the production of artificial retinas on the International Space Station (ISS), which is establishing new commercial opportunities to manufacture products in microgravity with direct clinical benefit.

Dr. Wagner obtained her Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of Connecticut in 2013. During the course of her Ph.D. research, she spent her graduate career working on optimizing light-activated proteins for applications in devices, and she played a critical role in the proof-of-concept experiments which helped to found LambdaVision. Her accolades include the Connecticut Technology Council’s Women of Innovation Award, Connecticut Magazine’s 40 Under 40, the 2020 Women in Aerospace Achievement Award, the 2021 BioCT Rising Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and most recently, Dr. Wagner was listed as one of Healthcare Technology Report’s Top 25 Women Leaders in Biotechnology for 2021 and Hartford Business Journal’s Power 50 in 2022. Dr. Wagner serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Women in Science Executives’ Club, the Connecticut Technology Council, and CTNext, as well as the ISS National Lab User Advisory Committee as the Chair of the Applied R&D Subcommittee.