Dr. Lagasse is also the Director of the Cancer Stem Cell Center at the McGowan Institute. In 1985, he received his Diplôme d'Etat de Docteur en Pharmacie from University of Strasbourg, France, and in 1989 he completed his PhD in Microbiology from the University of Basel, Switzerland. From 1989 to 1997, Dr. Lagasse completed his post-doctoral work with Dr. Irving Weissman in the Department of Developmental Biology and Pathology, Stanford University. Dr. Lagasse served as the Director, Liver Stem Cell Discovery Program at StemCells Inc, Palo Alto, California, from 1997 until he joined the McGowan Institute in 2004. In Dr. Lagasse’s laboratory research is focused primarily on stem cell biology and cell-based therapy for a variety of diseases including cancer. Dr. Lagasse’s continued research interests include: