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Professor Tony Futerman
Professor Tony Futerman received his B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry at the University of Bath,
England, in 1981, and then moved to the Department of Neurobiology of the Weizmann Institute
of Science for his doctoral studies. As he studied toward his Ph.D., Prof. Futerman demonstrated
that acetylcholinesterase, a key enzyme in terminating neuronal signaling in the brain, is attached to
the cell membrane via a novel mechanism. From 1987-1990, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the
laboratory of Dr. R. Pagano at the Carnegie Institution (Baltimore, Maryland, USA) where he
analyzed the sites of synthesis of lipid molecules in the cell. In 1990, he joined the staff of the
Weizmann Institute; he was appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Biological
Chemistry in 1997, and Full Professor in 2005.
Over the past decade, Prof. Futerman has been studying how sphingolipids and glycosphingolipids
function during neuronal development. At present, he focuses on understanding the mechanisms
underlying neuronal dysfunction in sphingolipid storage diseases such as Gaucher and Tay Sachs
diseases, genetic disorders involving malfunctioning enzymes. Not long ago, Prof. Futerman
provided some data which may explain why nerve cells in the brain are damaged in some forms of
Gaucher, Tay Sachs diseases and Niemann-Pick diseases, by suggesting that altered calcium
homeostasis in neurons may be one of the underlying pathological mechanisms. Also, together
with other colleagues in the Weizmann Institute, he recently solved the three-dimensional
structure of the enzyme used to treat Gaucher patients, paving the way for potential improved
therapies. Finally, he has also recently started working on a novel gene family that regulates lipid
synthesis – some of these genes may be involved in the development of a number of pathologies
and diseases.
Tony Futerman is the Joseph Meyerhoff Professor of Biochemistry at the Weizmann Institute of
Science, is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and was the
chair of the 2006 Gordon Conference on Glycolipid and Sphingolipid Biology. He is the author of
>100 published papers, has edited a book on 'Ceramide Signaling' (Landes Bioscience, 2003), and
together with Ari Zimran recently edited a book on Gaucher disease.