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Theo Palmer, PhD - Scientific Advisory Board
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurosurgery
Stanford University
Palo Alto, California

In addition to his work in Stanford's Department of Neurosurgery, Theo Palmer is director of the Laboratory of Stem Cell Sciences (LSCS) at the Stanford Brain Center. Palmer trained at the University of Washington, where he received his doctorate in experimental pathology. His postdoctoral work continued at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where he cultivated and refined his interest in the cellular and molecular basis of human disease.

Palmer is now focused on stem cells and how they orchestrate normal repair and maintenance in the adult brain. Neural stem cells play a normal role in replacing neurons in tightly circumscribed areas of the adult brain, and the LSCS and Palmer have focused their studies on these 'adult' stem cells. By applying the modern tools of genomics and stem cell isolation/transplantation, he hopes to identify the regulatory signals that control how and where stem cells are active. Once understood, it may be possible to recruit cells for repair or correct stem cell signaling when it has gone awry in the uncontrolled growth that leads to cancer.