Tanja Dominko, DVM, PhD, associate professor of biology and biotechnology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), is the 2013 Slovenian Ambassador of Science, a national award given to one Slovenian native each year in recognition of outstanding achievements and global scientific impact. The award also honors Dominko’s international engagement in developing programs that bring together WPI students and faculty members with Slovenian colleagues to address important biomedical challenges.
Slovenian President Borut Pahor presided at the awards ceremony on Nov. 22, 2013, in the city of Maribor, where Dominko joined nine other scientists and engineers who received national awards for a range of accomplishments. At the event, President Pahor spoke of the vital need to support scientific research and education on a global basis to help improve the human condition—a message that Dominko says resonates deeply with her personal and professional goals to discover and translate new knowledge of human physiology to help cure disease.
Dominko is globally recognized for her research in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. Her work has spanned embryonic transfer, cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer, and the basic science of early embryogenesis. She is currently at the forefront of the science of cellular reprograming, exploring how mature human skin cells can be coaxed to become more like stem cells able to recapitulate damaged tissues throughout the body.