Salk Professor Rusty Gage Elected to the National Academy of Sciences Governing Council

February 23, 2016

Salk professor Rusty Gage elected to the National Academy of Sciences Governing Council

February 23, 2016

LA JOLLA—Distinguished Salk Institute Professor Rusty Gage is one of four new members to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Governing Council. Gage is a professor in Salk’s Laboratory of Genetics and holds the Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Disease.

Gage is the first Salk researcher to be elected to the NAS Governing Council, which is made up of five officers and 12 councilors elected from among the Academy membership. His three-year term will begin July 1.

Gage’s work concentrates on the adult central nervous system and unexpected plasticity and adaptability to environmental stimulation that remains throughout the life of all mammals. He models human neurological and psychiatric diseases using human stem cells to help uncover new therapies. In addition, his lab studies the genomic mosaicism that exists in the brain as a result of mobile elements, revealing more about human evolution and disease.

There are currently 15 Salk scientists, including Gage, who are members of the academy. There are 2,300 NAS members plus 450 foreign associates, of whom more than 190 have won Nobel Prizes. The NAS was established in 1863 as a private, nongovernmental institution to advise the nation on issues related to science and technology. Members and foreign associates of the Academy are elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to research.