Professor and Vice Dean of Research and Graduate Education, UW School of Medicine, Sakiyama-Elbert’s own research focuses on developing new bioactive materials to drive tissue regeneration and cell transplant survival after nervous system injuries. Her lab at UW BioE continues her work developing techniques to promote functional recovery after spinal cord injury and treat peripheral nerve damage. Her team develops methods to prompt stem cells to give rise to the various neural cells needed for spinal cord regeneration, optimizes cell populations for transplantation, and designs materials for controlled growth factor and drug delivery. Sakiyama-Elbert is also a faculty member at UW’s Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine.