Rate My Professor David Schaffer

David Schaffer is the Hubbard Howe Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Bioengineering, and Molecular and Cell Biology in the University of California, Berkeley College of Engineering. He earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University in 1993 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Schaffer joined UC Berkeley in 1999 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, advancing to Associate Professor in 2005 and Professor in 2007 with additional appointments in Bioengineering and Molecular and Cell Biology. He has served as Chemist Scientist Faculty in the Physical Biosciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 2005. In administrative roles, he co-directed and then directed the Berkeley Stem Cell Center starting in 2009, acted as QB3-Berkeley Director from 2020 to 2022, and now leads as Executive Director of QB3, Director of Bakar Labs, the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub, and the Bakar Fellows Program.

Schaffer's research applies engineering principles to biomedical problems, focusing on gene and stem cell therapies. His lab engineers adeno-associated virus vectors via directed evolution for targeted gene delivery, with technologies in nine clinical trials, and develops methods to control stem cell fate for regenerative medicine targeting neurodegenerative diseases. He has published over 250 papers, including 'Engineering adeno-associated viruses for clinical gene therapy' (Nature Reviews Genetics, 2014), 'A designer AAV variant permits efficient retrograde access to projection neurons' (Neuron, 2016), 'Directed evolution of adeno-associated virus yields enhanced gene delivery vectors' (Nature Biotechnology, 2006), and 'Substrate modulus directs neural stem cell behavior' (Biophysical Journal, 2008). Holding over 50 patents, Schaffer co-founded seven companies such as 4D Molecular Therapeutics. His impact is recognized by election to the National Academy of Engineering (2025) and National Academy of Inventors (2021), the Andreas Acrivos Professional Progress Award (2020), AAAS Fellowship (2019), AIChE Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Award (2017), and others. He has advised over 90 trainees, served on the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy Board, and edits for journals including Molecular Therapy and Biotechnology and Bioengineering.