Zickler Lecture 2001
STATE UNIVERSITY AT STONY BROOK
DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ELEVENTH ANNUAL ZICKLER LECTURE
About the Zickler Lecture Series / Past Zickler Lecturers
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Timing and Cell Number Control
Thursday, May 3, 2001 |
About the Speaker
Martin Charles Raff was born in 1938 in Canada. He received his MD from McGill University in 1963, and then undertook a residency in Neurology and Neuropathology at Harvard Medical School. After his residency, he moved to London, England, where he was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Medical Research. Since 1971, he has been the Co-director of the Medical Research Council Developmental Neurobiology Programme in the Biology Department at University College London, where he is a Professor.
Dr. Raff's initial research focused on the characterization and use of cell surface antigenic markers to define subpopulations and differentiation pathways of lymphocytes. Using immunological and cell biological approaches, he played a pivotal role in defining our current understanding of the cell types and signaling steps involved in immune responses. Such steps included patching and capping of surface immunoglobulin, calcium-dependent receptor signaling, and the molecular mechanisms underlying regulated exocytosis by mast cells.
In the 1980's Dr. Raff's interests became directed towards the control of cell survival, proliferation and differentiation in the mammalian central nervous system. He determined that these events are decided by a combination of cell-cell interactions and programs intrinsic to each cell type. Tracing the fate of neuronal and glial progenitors, he promoted the idea of Aprogrammed cell death@ as a normal part of the processes that ultimately shape the brain. He advanced the idea that cell survival is governed by "social controls" that exert their effects via extracellular signals. Most recently, Dr. Raff's laboratory has begun to examine the possibilities for generating and using CNS stem cells.
Dr. Raff has received many honors for his scientific achievements, including the Feldberg Prize. He is on the advisory board of many prestigious research institutes including the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. Dr. Raff is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Academia Europaea, was President of the British Society of Cell Biology from 1991 to 1995, and is currently Chairman of the UK Life Sciences Committee. Dr. Raff is also a member of the British Academy of Medical Sciences and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.