Alan Trounson is Emeritus Professor, Monash University and Distinguished Scientist, Hudson Institute of Medical Research. He is the past President of the Californian Institute for Regenerative Medicine (2007-2014), the Californian state’s $3 billion stem cell agency driving research in stem cell biology and facilitating the translation of stem cell discoveries into clinical therapies.

He was a pioneer of human in vitro fertilisation (IVF) (1977-1996), introducing fertility drugs for controlling ovulation, embryo freezing techniques, egg and embryo donation methods, early sperm microinjection methods, initiated embryo biopsy, developing in vitro oocyte maturation methods, and the vitrification of eggs and embryos.

He was appointed Director of the Centre for Early Human Development at Monash University in 1986 and Deputy Director/Director of the Monash Institute for Reproduction and Development (1990-2003). He led the Australian team for the discovery of human embryonic stem cells in the late 1990s and was awarded the first Australian Biotechnology of Excellence and was the founding CEO of the Australian Stem Cell Centre. He founded the Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories (MISCL) at Monash University (2004-2007).

He is presently the founding CEO/President of the start-up company Cartherics Pty Ltd, developing Chimeric Antigen Receptor Technology (CAR-T)/T Cell Receptor (TCR) therapies using induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) as an off-the-shelf approach for treating cancer. Cartherics is sited on the 7th Floor of the Translation Research Facility Building, Monash Health Translation Precinct.

Selected publications

• Trounson A, McDonald C (2015) Stem cell therapies in clinical trials: progress and challenges. Cell Stem Cell 17:11-22.

• Turner M, Leslie S, Martin NG, Peschanski M, Rao M, Taylor CJ, Trounson A, Turner D, Yamanaka S, Wilmut I (2013) Toward the development of a global induced pluripotent stem cell library. Cell Stem Cell 13:382-384.

• Pera MF, Andrade J, Houssami S, Reubinoff B, Trounson A, Stanley EG, Ward-van Oostwaard D, Mummery C (2004) Regulation of human embryonic stem cell differentiation by BMP-2 and its antagonist noggin. J Cell Sci 117:1269-1280.

• Munsie MJ, Michalska AE, O’Brien CM, Trounson AO, Pera MF, Mountford PS (2000) Isolation of pluripotent embryonic stem cells from reprogrammed adult mouse somatic cell nuclei. Curr Biol 10:989-992.

• Reubinoff BE, Pera MF, Fong CY, Trounson A, Bongso A (2000) Embryonic stem cell lines from human blastocysts: somatic differentiation in vitro. Nat Biotechnol 18:399-404.

• Kuleshova L, Gianaroli L, Magli C, Ferraretti A, Trounson A (1999) Birth following vitrification of a small number of human oocytes: case report. Hum Reprod 14:3077-3079.

• Trounson A, Wood C, Kausche A (1994) In vitro maturation and the fertilization and developmental competence of oocytes recovered from untreated polycystic ovarian patients. Fertil Steril 62:353-362.

• Lutjen P, Trounson A, Leeton J, Findlay J, Wood C, Renou P (1984) The establishment and maintenance of pregnancy using in vitro fertilization and embryo donation in a patient with primary ovarian failure. Nature 307:174-175.

• Trounson A, Mohr L (1983) Human pregnancy following cryopreservation, thawing and transfer of an eight-cell embryo. Nature 305:707-709.

• Trounson AO, Leeton JF, Wood C, Webb J, Wood J (1981) Pregnancies in humans by fertilization in vitro and embryo transfer in the controlled ovulatory cycle. Science 212:681-682.