Dustin R. Wakeman

Dustin R. Wakeman is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. His research focuses on developing stem cell-based therapies for neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s diseases. He holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California, San Diego (2010) and a BS in Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2003).

Dr. Wakeman’s work combines disease modeling with preclinical drug development, leveraging pluripotent stem cells to create in vitro platforms for drug discovery and in vivo rodent/nonhuman primate models to assess therapeutic efficacy. His research emphasizes translational approaches, including cryopreservation of neurons, GDNF neuroprotection, and biomarker development for stem cell therapy responsiveness.

• Key Research Areas: Stem cell transplantation, neurodegenerative disease modeling, drugable target identification, and preclinical pharmacology.
• Awards: 2015 Young Investigator Award (International Award), Stem Cell Translational Medicine Award.

His lab explores both basic mechanisms of neurodegeneration and clinical translation, with recent breakthroughs in long-term engraftment of cryopreserved neurons and tau phosphorylation studies in nonhuman primates.