Michael Shelanski

The following biographical sketch is from Appendix E of the Institute of Medicine report, Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Redefining an Illness.

"Michael Shelanski, M.D., Ph.D., serves as chairman of the department of pathology and cell biology at Columbia University, co-director of the Taub Institute, and director of the Medical Scientist Training Program. He is a member of the American Society for Cell Biology, the American Society for Investigative Pathology, the Association of American Physicians, and the IOM. Dr. Shelanski’s laboratory has been responsible for the identification and purification of several of the major cytoskeletal proteins and has served as a training ground for a number of outstanding scholars of the neurodegenerations. The laboratory is using a combination of cell biological and molecular biological approaches to unravel the pathways of “cell suicide” or apoptosis in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerations, to understand the alterations in gene expression that occur in these diseases, and to dissect the regulation of synaptic responses in these diseases."

National Academy of Medicine (NAM) - An American non-profit, non-governmental organization which provides expert advice to governmental agencies on issues relating to biomedical science, medicine and health. Formerly known as the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

apoptosis a type of cell death in which a cell, in response to a threat, initiates a series of molecular steps that lead to its orderly death. This is one method the body uses to get rid of unneeded or abnormal cells. This form of cell suicide is also called programmed cell death.