David Schaffer, PhD

David Schaffer is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, bioengineering, and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also serves as the director of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences. David is also co-founder, chief scientist advisor and director of 4D Molecular Therapeutics.

In 1993, David graduated from Stanford University with a BS in chemical engineering. In 1998 he earned his PhD in chemical engineering at MIT. Finally, he did 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, Dr. Schaffer applies engineering principles to enhance stem cell and gene therapy approaches for neuroregeneration, work that includes novel approaches for molecular engineering and evolution of new viral vectors as well as new technologies to investigate and control stem cell fate decisions.

David Schaffer 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 also was awarded the Biomedical Engineering Society Rita Shaffer Young Investigator Award in 2000, the American Chemical Society BIOT Division Young Investigator Award in 2006, and was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2010.