Peter Zandstra

Peter W. Zandstra, , is a Canadian scientist who is the Vice-President, Research and Innovation of the University of British Columbia, the Founding Director of the UBC School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME), and a Professor in the UBC School of Biomedical Engineering. Previously he was a professor at the University of Toronto.

Education Zandstra graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree from McGill University in the Department of Chemical Engineering and later obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of British Columbia in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, under the supervision of Jamie Piret and Connie Eaves. He continued his research training as a postdoctoral fellow in the field of bioengineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (with Doug Lauffenburger) before being appointed to the University of Toronto in 1999.

Career In 2007, Zandstra was appointed as a professor at the University of Toronto's Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering. He was cross appointed with the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry and Medical Genetics. In 2016, Zandstra became a professor at the University of British Columbia. He served as the Founding Director of the School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia and was the director of the Michael Smith Laboratories until July 2022. In July 2023, he was reappointed to a second term as director of the School of Biomedical Engineering.

Zandstra also serves on the advisory board of the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact of the University of Oregon He also is a Chief Scientific Officer at the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine and is a part of the Silver Creek Pharmaceuticals team.

Research Research in the Zandstra Laboratory is focused on the regeneration of functional tissues from stem cells, and the development and utilization of tools to modulate the responses of stem cells in vitro and in vivo. Interest in the generation of primary cells and tissues ex vivo is driven both by their potential use as a direct clinical modality and as human tissue analogues for the development of novel therapeutic agents.

In 2014, Zandstra was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a year later he was recognized for contributions to development and commercialization of stem cell-based therapies and became a recipient of the Scale-Up and Manufacturing of Cell-Based Therapies Award.

In 2017, Zandstra was appointed as Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Bioengineering.

His other recognitions include: Premiers Research Excellence Award (2002) E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship (2005) John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2007) Canada's Top 40 Under 40 (2008) McLean Award (2008) Fellow of the AIMBE Till and McCulloch Award (2013) Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Member of the Order of Canada (2022)