[2] Knoepfler received a BA in English Literature from Reed College in 1989 and a PhD in Molecular Pathology from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in 1998 as a Lucille P. Markey Fellow.
[8] During his postdoctoral studies, Knoepfler received a fellowship from the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research, and the Howard Temin Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
[13] Knoepfler has also received support from the March of Dimes via the Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Award[14] and from the National Brain Tumor Society.
[15] Knoepfler was more recently awarded grants from the St. Baldrick's Foundation[16] to support work studying how Myc causes childhood brain cancers and potential ways to develop new treatments.
[17][18] Knoepfler was diagnosed with prostate cancer in late 2009 at age 42, an experience he credits at least in part as the inspiration to start blogging as an academic stem cell researcher.
[26] In addition to his blogging, in 2013 Knoepfler released a book titled Stem Cells: An Insider's Guide,[27] which is aimed at a general audience of both scientists and non-scientists.