Shoukhrat Mitalipov (ShoKHRAHT Mee-tuhl-EE-pov, Russian: Шухрат Музапарович Миталипов;[1] born 1961)[2] is an American biologist who heads the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.
[5] After the military, Mitalipov studied genetics at the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy in Moscow and also played blues guitar in a cover band to pay the bills.
[3] After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 funding for stem cell research was scarce, so Mitalipov applied for and won a fellowship at Utah State University in 1995.
[3] A therapy for mitochondrial diseases that Mitalipov discovered, the "spindle transfer" technique, involves removing the nucleus from a human egg and placing it into another.
[4] The stem cell discovery made several journals' "Top 10" scientific breakthrough lists in 2013, including Nature, Science, Time, Discover, National Geographic and The Week.