Dirk Grimm is Professor of Viral Vector Technologies at Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany. For >20 years including a 6-year postdoctoral stint at Stanford University (CA, USA), he has engineered adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors for therapeutic in vivo gene transfer. Hallmarks include the first application of DNA family shuffling for AAV capsid evolution or the discovery of RNAi-associated toxicity. Using high-throughput technologies and combinatorial RNAi/CRISPR expression, his current laboratory tailors AAV vectors for treatment of infectious or monogenic disorders. Another emerging research focus is on the use of targeted AAV vectors for direct in vivo reprogramming of somatic cells in living organisms, with the ultimate aim of in situ tissue repair and regeneration.