By Michelle Jaffee
Brent Reynolds, Ph.D., whose discovery of neural stem cells in adult mammalian brains opened a whole new field of neuroscience research aimed at better treating stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and more, died unexpectedly April 11 after a stroke. He was 63.
Reynolds’ textbook-changing discovery as a doctoral student at the University of Calgary with mentor Samuel Weiss skyrocketed his career, culminating in 16 patents related to neural stem cells.
Yet the sudden limelight also prompted Reynolds to step away for a time. At one point, he became a certified acupuncturist and herbologist before the lab eventually beckoned him back, first in Australia, then at the University of Florida.
At UF’s McKnight Brain Institute, where he spent the final 18 years of his career, Reynolds turned his focus to studying cancer stem cells, a subset of cancer cells thought to drive cancer spread and recurrence, and he mentored trainees who have gone on to become distinguished scientists in their own right.
It was a way of coming full circle from his major discovery in 1992, which upended the dogma that there was no way to stimulate the regrowth of damaged brain or spinal cord tissue.
That discovery, published in Science, launched entirely new directions of investigation into potential therapeutic uses of neural stem cells, said MBI Director Jennifer Bizon, Ph.D.
“It was the kind of seminal discovery for which the impact may not be known in our lifetimes,” Bizon said. “It could revolutionize health care.”
Reynolds was born Sept. 14, 1962, in Edmonton, Canada, to parents who worked as a homemaker and an officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. While he liked to share a fond childhood memory of doing a science project on the brain, he wasn’t always a natural student. At one time, he even took a break from high school, and at another, worked on an oil rig in northern Canada.
Those long hours in the bitter cold inspired him to enroll in college, where he became enthralled with research. He was just 29 years old when he and Weiss made their surprise discovery, which led to starting a biotech company.
But then in an unconventional pivot, Reynolds sold the company and moved with his wife and two young children to Salt Spring Island near Vancouver. “He sailed in his sailboat from Salt Spring to Victoria to go to the School of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, and he would live on the sailboat, then sail back to the island,” said his son, Nico Reynolds.
He ran a tearoom and Chinese medicine and acupuncture clinic on Salt Spring for years before the family briefly relocated to Thailand so he and his wife Karen, who was battling breast cancer, could follow their passion for yoga and meditation. “There were three different couples, and they bought land and set up a yoga studio,” said his daughter, Mercedes Thurber.
Ultimately, though, Reynolds was drawn back to the lab at the Queensland Brain Institute in Australia, where, in 2006, a new doctoral graduate from France, Loic Deleyrolle, decided to join the world-famous researcher.
“If you studied regeneration of the nervous system, you had to know Brent Reynolds,” said Deleyrolle, who went on to become Reynolds’ mentee for the next 20 years. “I had the privilege to train in his lab and learn from the individual who started the field.”
And so when Reynolds was recruited to the MBI by then-Director Dennis Steindler, Ph.D., Deleyrolle made the move with him.
“As a young scientist, I would often go to his office feeling overwhelmed and leave with a sense of peace,” said Deleyrolle, who is now a neuroscientist at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville. “He had a rare ability to see scientific problems from a different perspective and inspired us to push the envelope. He played a defining role in shaping me as a scientist, and his influence continues in my work today.”
Among colleagues at the MBI, Reynolds was known not only for his scientific achievements but also his support of trainees, gentle nature and relaxed demeanor, often wearing Birkenstocks or flip-flops to the lab — even if the governor happened to be touring that day.
“He was a prolific scientist, a creative mind and a mentor to many early-career researchers in the department of neurosurgery,” said Brian Hoh, M.D., M.B.A., chair of the Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery. “He paved the way for our robust, lab-based research of today.”
One such mentee from 2008 to 2010 was UF Health neurosurgeon Maryam Rahman, M.D., M.S. “He taught me a lot about how to think about scientific questions, how to design experiments, and it was because of his training that I was able to then start my own lab when I joined the faculty here,” Rahman said.
Described by many as soft-spoken and kind, Reynolds maintained regular check-ins with his trainees throughout their careers.
“While there are many people in science who are really smart like Brent, he had a humility about him and was really down-to-earth,” said Vinata Vedam-Mai, Ph.D., a postdoc under Reynolds for five years. “His mentorship was instrumental during the time I spent in his lab.”
Outside the lab, Reynolds was devoted to physical fitness, biking daily to campus and regularly beating his then-twentysomething son in running the stairs in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
He also faced a number of serious personal challenges: In 2013, he lost his 48-year-old wife to metastatic breast cancer, and in 2024, he suffered a spontaneous coronary artery dissection, or SCAD. He poured himself into researching the condition, learning it put him at a higher risk for stroke and doing everything he could to preserve his health.
After losing his wife, one of Reynolds’ favorite places to spend time was an off-the-grid island off the coast of Vancouver, where he worked on building water and power systems, collecting firewood and writing grants using satellite internet.
A devotee of Taoism, which was a guiding force for him, Reynolds accumulated friends across the world during his time living on three continents.
“I don’t think I have ever seen my dad get angry once,” said his son. “And he never really got sad except when our mom passed. He was a very even sailboat, regardless of the situation.”
In late 2020, he met psychotherapist Claire De Boer through a dating website and, during a 15-hour first date in Vancouver, asked her to be his girlfriend. With strong shared interests in spiritualism and world travel, they married 3½ years later and, together, meandered the Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon and the cobblestone roads of Prague and Rome.
She survives him, along with his parents, Ruth and Richard “Dick” Reynolds; son Nico and daughter-in-law Melody; daughter Mercedes and son-in-law Matt Thurber; three granddaughters; and his brother Shaun, sister-in-law Candace and nephews Cooper and Brady Reynolds.
