He earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. Tzanakakis did his postdoctoral training at the Stem Cell Institute of the University of Minnesota and at the Diabetes Center of the University of California, San Francisco. His laboratory’s research interests are in the area of stem cell engineering, particularly for diabetes and heart disease applications. Implementing a combination of experiment- and computation-based approaches, the overarching goal of his research is the realization of the potential of stem cells in regenerative medicine.