Dr. Donald Sakaguchi is a professor of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology at Iowa State University (ISU). Before joining the faculty at Iowa State he was a postdoctoral Fellow and Research Biologist at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Dr. Sakaguchi’s research program is directed at development of experimental strategies for brain rescue and repair. Studies in his laboratory are focused on neurodegenerative conditions and nerve regeneration. They are employing multi-faceted bioengineering approaches to address several issues. 1) The use of genetically modified adult stem cells as delivery vehicles for therapeutic factors; 2) micropatterning of biodegradable polymers to direct cell growth; and 3) studying extrinsic factors that can regulate neural progenitor cell differentiation. This research impacts diverse biological fields, including neuroscience, ophthalmology, biomedical engineering, biomedical sciences and cancer biology. In addition to teaching biology and neuroscience courses at ISU, Dr. Sakaguchi has also been an invited lecturer for advanced neuroscience courses at the University of Coimbra in Portugal and Ege University in Izmir, Turkey.