Dennis Steindler, PhD

Senior Scientist
Tufts University, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging

Dr. Steindler previously was the Joseph J. Bagnor/Shands Professor of Medical Research in the Department of Neurosurgery of the University of Florida College of Medicine and the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin Madison and received his doctorate in anatomy studying neurobiology from the University of California, San Francisco. After postdoctoral research at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany, Dr. Steindler continued his studies of brain development and disease, repair and cancer as a faculty member including an endowed professorship in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Florida College of Medicine where he also became the Executive Director of the Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute.

Dr. Steindler’s research is focused on the growth, transplantation and therapeutic applications of normal and cancerous stem cells, many of which his lab was the first to clone and characterize. Recent studies in his lab focus on testing stem cell biology and regenerative medicine therapeutics in models of brain cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease. In addition to creating patient- and disease-specific avatars for the testing of new molecular and biologic therapies, novel cell culture assays and biomarker screenings, including exosomal analysis, are used to screen for therapeutics including omically-designed combinations of nutrient phytocompounds and other precision medicine therapeutics.

He has served on or retains positions on government grant review panels as well as the editorial boards of the journals: The Journal of Neuroscience, GLIA, Experimental Neurology, The Journal of Neurocytology, Gene Expression, Developmental Brain Research, Brain Research, and The Journal of Parkinson’s Disease. He also has held or holds positions on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and the Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure Foundation. He has issued patents in the stem cell biology and regenerative medicine field, and has co-founded three biotech companies.

Dr. Steindler is involved in research studies in the area of physical and mental exercise, along with nutrition and nutrient therapies, to prevent or delay age-related cognitive decline. In addition to being one of the discoverers of adult brain stem cells in the human brain involved in lifelong learning and memory, and their cancerous counterparts involved in brain tumor genesis, he has worked with companies, health care providers, foundations and government agencies in the United States and Europe to design protocols for regenerative medicine and maintaining healthy aging and cognitive prowess throughout the life time.