DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY TO REPLACE NEURONS LOST TO ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE WITH NEURAL PRECURSOR CELLS DERIVED FROM SKIN CELLS
With
Professor Michael Valenzuela,
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer,
Skin2Neuron
PEOPLE IN HEALTH CARE SEGMENT
Filmed in Sydney | June 2026
Professor Michael Valenzuela is a science opinion leader, innovator and creative thinker with a career-long commitment to the prevention and treatment of dementia.
He studied psychology at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) before completing a PhD on Cognitive Reserve. This work was recognised by one of the nation’s top awards, the Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Medical Research.
Following that he completed graduate medicine and medical training at the Prince of Wales Hospital. In 2012, he established the Regenerative Neuroscience Group at the University of Sydney, and in 2017 became the university’s first Professor of Regenerative Medicine.
Professor Valenzuela’s group discovered a new cell type with potential for regenerative medicine, a rare neural precursor cell found deep within the human hair follicle. He is the main inventor on several related patents and is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Skin2Neuron – a biotech company developing the first neurorestorative cell therapy for Alzheimer’s disease based on this work.
Between 2019-2021 he was employed as a senior advisor to the WHO in one of its flagship Decade of Healthy Ageing initiatives. He also joined the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at UNSW as Visiting Professor and played a leading role in the design and successful completion of the Maintain Your Brain – the world’s largest dementia prevention trial that found it is possible to delay cognitive decline in older at-risk people by about 1-year.
Professor Valenzuela is a frequent media commentator and author of the popular science book Maintain Your Brain.
Source: Supplied
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David Beard is a highly experienced Exercise Physiologist with a specialisation in metabolic health and healthy aging. He has spent over 40 years in this profession, even before exercise physiology was formally recognised as a discipline. His extensive background includes over a decade of working in aged care and a strong focus on adult health and fitness. David has authored a book on healthy aging and dedicated the last 10 to 12 years to advancing his expertise in metabolic health issues such as diabetes, weight loss, and inflammatory conditions. He is a co-owner of HFRC in Nedlands, Western Australia, where he has worked for nearly a decade.
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Dr Wendy Falloon is an Anaesthetist of over 30 years experience and a Fellow of Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA). She studied medicine at the University of Tasmania, and worked in Hobart, Sydney and the Uk while completing her specialist qualifications. Her primary professional focus has always been to deliver the best possible experience of anaesthesia to each and every patient, and for them to know that she sees and values them, and their stories.
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