Professor David V. Schaffer

David V. Schaffer, Ph.D. is Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Bioengineering, and Neuroscience at University of California, Berkeley, where he also serves as the Director of the Berkeley Stem Cell Center. He is also Cofounder of 4D Molecular Therapeutics.
 
Dave graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering in 1993. Afterward, he attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his Ph.D. also in Chemical Engineering in 1998 with Professor Doug Lauffenburger, while minoring in Molecular and Cell Biology. Finally, he conducted a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Fred Gage at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA, before moving to UC Berkeley in 1999.
 
At Berkeley, he applies engineering principles to enhance stem cell and gene therapy approaches for neuroregeneration. This work includes mechanistic investigation of stem cell control, as well as molecular evolution and engineering of viral gene delivery vehicles.
 
Dave coedited Protocols for Adult Stem Cells. His papers include A Fully Defined and Scalable 3D Culture System for Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Expansion and Differentiation, Multivalent Ligands to Control Stem Cell Behaviour in Vitro and in Vivo, Biophysical Regulation of Epigenetic State and Cell Reprogramming, In Vivo–Directed Evolution of a New Adeno-Associated Virus for Therapeutic Outer-Retinal Gene Delivery from the Vitreous, Optogenetic Protein Clustering and Signaling Activation in Mammalian Cells, Astrocytes Regulate Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis Through Ephrin-B Signaling, and Nox2 Redox Signaling Maintains Essential Cell Populations in the Brain.
 
Dave is on the Editorial Boards of Brain Plasticity, Molecular Therapy — Nucleic Acids, Molecular Therapy, International Journal of Neuroprotection and Neuroregeneration, and Biotechnology and Bioengineering.
 
He has received an NSF CAREER Award, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, Whitaker Foundation Young Investigator Award, and was named a Technology Review Top 100 Innovator. He was also awarded the American Chemical Society BIOT Division Young Investigator Award in 2006, the Biomedical Engineering Society Rita Shaffer Young Investigator Award in 2000, and was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2010.
 
Watch P-SPAN #305: Berkeley City College: Science Lecture with David Schaffer, Ph.D. Read his LinkedIn profile.