Garth L. Nicolson (born October 1, 1943)[1] is an American biochemist who made a landmark scientific model for cell membrane, known as the Fluid Mosaic Model. He is the founder of The Institute for Molecular Medicine at California, and he serves as the President, Chief Scientific Officer and Emeritus Professor of Molecular Pathology. He is also Conjoint Professor in the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Newcastle, Australia.
During the outbreak of the Gulf War syndrome, he was the leading authority on the study of the cause, treatment and prevention of the disease. He was appointed Chairman of the Medical-Scientific Panel for the Persian Gulf War Veterans Conference.[2] On suspicion of the bacterium that caused the disease as a product of biological warfare, he made extensive scientific investigations and served as authority to the United States House of Representatives.[3] For his service he was conferred honorary Colonel of the US Army Special Forces and honorary US Navy SEAL.[4]
With S.J. Singer, Nicolson published a paper titled "The fluid mosaic model of the structure of cell membranes" in 1972,[5] which is now regarded as a classic paper in cell biology.
During 1970–1971 he worked as Senior Research Associate in the Armand Hammer Cancer Centre of the Cancer Council Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla. He became Head of the Cancer Council Laboratory, as well as Director of Electron Microscopy Laboratory in 1972. In 1974 he took the Chair of the Department of Cancer Biology, the post he held till 1976. In 1975 he was appointed Professor in the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology at the University of California, Irvine. In 1978 he additionally became Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the College of Medicine, University of California, Irvine. In 1980 he was conferred the post Florence M. Thomas Professor of Cancer Research at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, where he worked for seven years. Between 1980 and 1996 he was also Professor at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the University of Texas Health Science Center; as well as David Bruton Jr. Chair in Cancer Research, Professor and Chairman of Tumor Biology at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. He was also Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Texas Medical School from 1982 to 1998. During 1981–1998 he was Adjunct Professor in the Department of Pathology at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A & M University. From 1989 to 1999 he was Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical School.[1] In 1996 he founded The Institute for Molecular Medicine at Huntington Beach in 1996.[15] He became its President, Chief Scientific Officer and Research Professor of Molecular Pathology. He also serves as Professor of Integrative Medicine at Capitol University of Integrative Medicine. Since 2003 he is also the Conjoint Professor in the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Newcastle, Australia.[2][3] He is a Founding Editor of the editorial board of the Cancer and Metastasis Reviews.[16]
Institutions
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
University of California, Irvine
University of Texas
Texas A&M University
The Institute for Molecular Medicine