Mission Bay

Robert Edwards, MD, PhD studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate neurotransmitter release and how they contribute to synaptic physiology, behavior and disease, particularly Parkinson’s.

Faranak Fattahi, PhD uses human pluripotent stem cells to study the peripheral nervous system in health and disease with the goal of developing novel therapies through drug discovery and regenerative medicine.

Donna Ferriero, MD is the Director of the Neonatal Brain Disorders Center and studies the pathobiology of hypoxic-ischemic injury in the developing nervous system.

Steven Finkbeiner, MD, PhD is the Director of the Taube/Koret Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research. He studies how inherited gene mutations lead to neuronal dysfunction and degeneration in ALS, frontotemporal dementia, Huntington’s and Parkinson's disease.

Zev Gartner, PhD is working to organize the body’s building blocks into defined structures spanning the subcellular to tissue length scales.

Stephen Gitelman, MD is the Director of the UCSF Pediatric Diabetes Program and has active clinical research interests in diabetes, particularly in the prevention of type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Douglas Gould, PhD studies the extracellular matrix – fundamental non-cellular components of all tissues. Specifically, he studies collagens that are critical components of specialized ECM structures called basement membranes. His lab is working to understand 1) fundamental collagen biosynthesis, 2) how mutations in basement membrane collagens cause a multisystem disorder that includes perinatal stroke and age-related cognitive impairment and dementia, and 3) potential therapeutic interventions including cell-based therapies and gene editing.

Su Guo, PhD uses molecular genetic approaches in zebrafish to identify novel genes involved in fate determination of dopaminergic neurons.

Akiko Hata, PhD studies mechanisms of growth factor signaling in the control of cell growth and differentiation of vascular cells. 

Raphael Hirsch, MD studies immune tolerance and inflammatory mediators in autoimmunity.