David Schaffer is a Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Bioengineering, and Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and he also serves as the Director QB3, and the Bakar Labs, and the Bakar Fellows Program. He received his B.S. from Stanford University and Ph.D. from MIT, then conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies before joining Berkeley in 1999. There, he applies engineering principles to optimize gene and stem cell therapies, work that includes developing the concept of applying directed evolution to engineer targeted and efficient viral gene therapy vectors as well as new technologies to investigate and control stem cell fate decisions. In addition, he has co-founded seven companies from his lab, including 4D Molecular Therapeutics (NASDAQ FDMT), Ignite Immunotherapies (acquired by Pfizer) and Rewrite (acquired by Intellia). Finally, he has received recognitions including the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Inventors, Daniel I.C. Wong Award for Excellence in Biochemical Engineering, Andreas Acrivos Professional Progress Award, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Award, and the American Chemical Society Marvin Johnson Award.