Franklin West

Franklin West is a Professor in the Department of Animal and Dairy Science at the University of Georgia, with joint appointments at the Regenerative Bioscience Center. He leads the Translational Neural Repair and Regeneration Laboratory, focusing on stem cell therapies for neural injuries.

• Education: B.S. in Biology (Morehouse College), Ph.D. in Animal Sciences (University of Georgia)
• Grants: Over $4 million from DoD/NIH for electromagnetic radiation effects on neural networks; $3.6 million from NINDS for MSC extracellular vesicle studies in TBI

His research pioneers induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) applications in traumatic brain injury and stroke, developing the first U.S. swine stroke model and chimeric pigs from iPSCs. Recent work explores gut-brain axis interactions, nanoparticle therapies, and functional connectivity mapping in piglet models.

Scientific Awards include:

• NIH/National Science Foundation-funded projects
• Georgia Trends Top 40 Under 40 (2010)
• 40 Under 40 Class (2020)
• Young Alumni Award (2019)

He serves on the University of Georgia Research Foundation and NIH Development Study Section, with 122+ scholarly works in journals like Cell, Stem Cells, and Scientific Reports.