Prof. Tony Futerman
Prof. Tony Futerman was born in London, England in 1959. He received his BSc degree in biochemistry from the University of Bath, England in 1981, and his PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1986. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Carnegie Institution in Baltimore, Maryland, Prof. Futerman joined the faculty of the Weizmann Institute in 1990. He is the incumbent of the Joseph Meyerhoff Professorial Chair of Biochemistry, and the Chair of the Steering Committee of Bina, a new unit recently established in the Weizmann Institute to help develop a path from basic to applied research.
Prof. Futerman’s research work focuses on the function and complexity of a class of lipid molecules known as sphingolipids. Accumulation of sphingolipids causes Gaucher disease, an inherited metabolic disorder that occurs at a comparatively high frequency in the Ashkenazi Jewish population. Recently, Prof. Futerman has studied a surprising genetic link between Gaucher disease and Parkinson’s disease. That is, the gene responsible for the accumulation of sphingolipids in Gaucher disease is also a significant risk factor for Parkinson’s disease. Futerman is currently testing the idea that there may be common biochemical pathways that link Gaucher and Parkinson’s diseases.
Among his approximately 300 publications, Prof. Futerman has edited a book on ceramide signaling, and co-edited a book on Gaucher disease. He served on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry for 10 years and has chaired two Gordon Conferences related to sphingolipid biology and to inherited lysosomal disorders. More recently, he chaired a conference on the Potential and Limitations of Evolutionary Processes, which reflects his growing interest in whether Darwinian ideas have sufficient explanatory power to account for the development of complex metabolic pathways. He has also initiated a journal, 'BioCosmos: New perspectives on the origin and evolution of life' to establish a forum to discuss novel perspectives on the origins and nature of life that go beyond the standard neo-Darwinian paradigm of biological evolution.