Helena Isla

I am a Regenerative Medicine Scientist specializing in the development of stem cell-derived retinal organoids to pioneer next-generation cell therapies for blinding diseases. My career has been defined by a deep technical mastery of stem cell biology—spanning from the foundational generation of iPSC lines via cellular reprogramming to the complex orchestration of 3D tissue differentiation.

With a background that bridges Neuroscience (Alzheimer’s Disease) and Ocular Biotechnology, I bring a holistic understanding of neural degeneration and repair.  My goal is to design, test and later on translate complex stem cell research into scalable, clinically viable treatments for retinal degeneration.

Retinal Organoids & Cell Therapy: Engineering hiPSC-derived 3D retinal tissues as both a source for cell replacement therapy and a platform for high-throughput drug screening.

Disease Modeling & Gene Therapy: Leveraging my experience in gene editing and viral vectors to develop therapeutic interventions that target the underlying genetic drivers of retinal and neurodegenerative pathologies.

CRISPR-Engineered Cell Lines: Utilizing precision genome editing to create isogenic cell lines and reporter systems that allow for the longitudinal tracking of cell fate and disease progression.

AI-Augmented Discovery: Implementing Machine Learning (ML) and AI tools to complement scientific investigation—specifically in automating image analysis of organoid morphology and normalizing high-throughput electrophysiological (MEA) signals.

PhD Candidate Supervision: Acted as a primary technical mentor for PhD students, guiding them through the design and execution of long-term dissertation projects involving iPSC reprogramming and complex 3D differentiation protocols.

Master’s Thesis Mentorship: Supervised Master’s students in the successful completion of thesis projects, focusing on the generation of RPE model,  characterization and the validation of RPE functionality.