Dr. George M. Martin
George M. Martin, M.D., FAAAS is Professor Emeritus,
Departments of Pathology and Genome Sciences, University of Washington,
Seattle, Washington. He was Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research
Center at the University of Washington from 1985 to 1999.
George’s research has involved genetic approaches to elucidate the
pathobiology of aging and age-related diseases. This has included basic
research leading to the discovery of the genetic defect causing the
Werner syndrome and certain familial forms of Alzheimer’s disease. His
laboratory was also the first to demonstrate the rising frequencies,
with age, of somatic mutations in human epithelial cells. At a more
clinical level, George has systematized our knowledge of human
genetic disorders from the point of view of their rich potential to
elucidate specific aspects of the senescent phenotype and used this
analysis to make inferences concerning the polygenic basis of aging.
He is on the Editorial Boards of
Aging Cell,
Ageing Research Reviews,
The FASEB Journal,
Geriatrics & Gerontology International,
Age and Ageing, and
Mechanisms of Ageing and Development.
He was Founding Editor-in-Chief of
Science of Aging Knowledge.
George was
elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science in 1982. He was
awarded the
Humboldt Distinguished Scientist Award from the University of Wurzburg,
Germany in 1991. He received the Research Medal from the American Aging
Association in 1992. He received the Robert W. Kleemeier Award from the
Gerontological Society of America in 1993. He received the Irving
Wright Award of Distinction from the American Federation for Aging
Research in 1996.
He received the Distinguished Scientist Award from the University of
Urbino, Italy in 1998.
He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the
World Alzheimer’s Congress in 2000. He received the IPSEN Foundation
Longevity Prize in 2001.
He coedited
Chromosomal Instability and Aging: Basic Science and Clinical
Implications, and coauthored
Positional Cloning of the Werner’s Syndrome Gene,
Genetic Linkage Evidence for Familial Alzheimer’s Disease Locus on
Chromosome 14,
Alzheimer’s Presenilin Mutation Sensitizes Neural Cells to Apoptosis
Induced by Trophic Factor Withdrawal and Amyloid β-Peptide:
Involvement of Calcium and Oxyradicals,
Extension of Murine Life Span by Overexpression of Catalase Targeted
to
Mitochondria, and
Neurotrophic factors [activity-dependent neurotrophic factor (ADNF)
and
basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)] interrupt excitotoxic
neurodegenerative cascades promoted by a PS1 mutation.
George earned his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Washington in
1948 and his M.D. in Medicine at the University of Washington in 1953.
He did his Internship at the Montreal General Hospital in 1954 and his
Residency at the University of Chicago until 1957.