Schaffer Lab
Principal Investigator: David V Schaffer
Institution: University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
Primary Subfield: Neuroscience
Recruitment Status: ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
Project Summary Microglial inflammation has been implicated the pathology of a host of neurological conditions, including neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and Down Syndrome; neurogenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Huntington’s disease; and neuropathic pain. Gene therapy utilizing adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors has emerged as a highly promising strategy for treating central nervous system (CNS) disorders, and an immunosuppressive gene therapy to inhibit immune signaling pathways in microglia would thus be highly promising for treating this broad range of chronic conditions. However, this signaling pathway serves protective roles in other CNS cells including neurons, such that therapeutic delivery would need to be not only efficient but targeted to microglia. By leveraging our expertise in viral engineering, single cell analysis, machine learning, and human and non-human primate models, we propose to develop a technology platform for genetically accessing specific cell types in the adult primate brain, in particular microglia. We will integrate directed evolution of AAV with molecular b…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R01NS126397-04: Directed Evolution of Novel AAVs and Regulatory Elements for Selective Microglial Gene Expression (2026)
- 5R01NS074831-15: Mechanisms of Neural Stem Cell Mechanoregulation (2026)
- 5R01NS074831-14: Mechanisms of Neural Stem Cell Mechanoregulation (2025)
- 5R01NS126397-03: Directed Evolution of Novel AAVs and Regulatory Elements for Selective Microglial Gene Expression (2025)
- 5R01NS126397-02: Directed Evolution of Novel AAVs and Regulatory Elements for Selective Microglial Gene Expression (2024)
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