Dalton Lab Welcomes Visiting Scholar Pascal Achenbach

Funded through the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the six-month fellowship supports a collaboration to advance new strategies for neural regeneration.

Starting in June, the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact will welcome Pascal Achenbach as a visiting scholar in the Dalton Lab. The clinically trained neurologist and neuropathologist will spend six months at the Knight Campus as part of a Feodor Lynen Postdoctoral Research Fellowship funded by the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which supports outstanding scholars from across the globe throughout their careers, regardless of discipline or nationality.

Achenbach will collaborate with the Dalton Lab to advance new strategies for neural regeneration, with a focus on repairing damaged axons — the long, delicate projections that extend from neurons to transmit signals. Axon regeneration remains a significant challenge in treating traumatic spinal cord injuries and other neurological conditions. Through melt electrowriting (MEW), a high-resolution 3D printing technology pioneered by the Dalton Lab, Achenbach will help fabricate scaffolds designed to guide axon regrowth and improve clinical outcomes. His clinical background makes him uniquely positioned to translate MEW-based approaches into meaningful neurological applications.

This visit marks a full-circle moment for Dalton, who was himself awarded a Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2003. That fellowship, completed in Germany, was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the MEW technology that now underpins much of the Dalton Lab’s research.