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Florian Merkle obtained a bachelor's degree in Biology from Caltech and a PhD in Neuroscience from UCSF, where he determined the lineage potential of adult neural stem cells in the mouse brain. He pioneered the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into hypothalamic neurons and was an early adopter of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing with hPSCs during his postdoctoral research at Harvard University. After joining the Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS) at the University of Cambridge in 2015 as a New Blood fellow, Merkle became a Sir Henry Dale Fellow, Ben Barres Fellow, and Robertson Stem Cell Investigator, ultimately joining the Department of Pharmacology in 2024 as an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer). His contributions to the field have been cited over 10,000 times, with publications in leading journals such as Nature, Science, Nature Genetics, and Cell Stem Cell. As an affiliate member of IMS and the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, he also serves as an industry consultant, board member, and entrepreneur. Merkle has received numerous accolades, including the 'Golden Ticket' from NovoNordisk and the Michael Harbuz Young Investigator Prize from the British Society Neuroendocrinology. He is committed to mentoring early career researchers in the UK and organizing programs to support undergraduates from underrepresented backgrounds in life science research at Cambridge.
Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge • Cambridge, ENG, GB
Leading research in the development of therapies using human stem cell models.
Standard postgraduate requirements for Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) and related humanities departments.