Fred Gage

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Fred "Rusty" Gage is a professor in the Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute, and has concentrated on the adult central nervous system and the unexpected plasticity and adaptability that remains throughout the life of all mammals. His work may lead to methods of replacing brain tissue lost to stroke or Alzheimer’s disease and repairing spinal cords damaged by trauma. Interestingly, he is the descendant of Phineas Gage, a man who was famous for surviving a large tamping iron driven through his skull, drastically changing his personality and becoming one of the most famous patients in neurosurgery.

In 1998, Fred H. Gage (Salk Insititute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California) and Peter Ericksson (Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden) discovered and announced that the human brain produces new nerve cells in adulthood. Until then, it had been assumed that humans are born with all the brain cells they will ever have.

Gage’s lab showed that, contrary to years of dogma, human beings are capable of growing new nerve cells throughout life. Small populations of immature nerve cells are found in the adult mammalian brain, and Gage is working to understand how these cells can be induced to become mature nerve cells. His team is investigating how such cells can be transplanted back to the brain and spinal cord. They have showed that physical exercise can enhance the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus, a brain structure that is important for the formation of new memories. Furthermore, his team is examining the underlying molecular mechanisms that are critical to the birth of new brain cells, work that may lead to new therapeutics for neurodegenerative conditions.

Fred Gage received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University.