Shin Murakami, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Scientist
Campus Address: 
Department of Pathology, the Geriatrics Center
and the Institute of Gerontology
5410 CCGCB, Box 0940
1500 E Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0940
Phone: 734 936 2164
Fax: 734 936 9220
murakams@umich.edu

Brief Biography

Dr. Murakami received his PhD (Molecular Biology and Biophysics) from Department of Biophysics, Kyoto University, Japan in 1993, and undertook postdoctoral training at University of Colorado-Boulder (1994-1999). He joined to University of Missouri-Columbia (2000) and, then, University of Michigan (2000-present) as a faculty member. He is also an associate faculty of Institute of Gerontology, University of Michigan. His interest is how to extend life span, especially extension of the period with high mental and physical functions. He has been involved in determination of insulin/IGF-1 regulating longevity and now focuses on a molecular systemic mechanism downstream of the pathway. He is a recipient of the Japan Society of Promotion of Sciences Awards and the American Federation for Aging Research Award in Geriatrics Research.

Research Interests

1. Molecular genetics of aging and stress resistance in C. elegans and mammalian systems.
2. Insulin/IGF-1 pathways
3. Age-dependent decline of learning and locomotion activity

Recent Publications

Murakami, S. and Johnson T. E. (1998) Life extension and stress resistance modulated by the old-1 receptor tyrosine kinase gene. Current Biology. 8, 1091-1094

Rikke, B., Murakami, S., and Johnson, T. E. (2000) Molecular phylogenetics of tyrosine kinase that can extend nematode life span. Journal of Molecular Evolution. 17, 671-683.

Murakami, S., Tedesco, P., Cypser, J., and Johnson, T.E. (2000) Molecular mechanism and genetic manipulation of longevity in C. elegans. Annals of NY Acad. Sci., NY. 908, 40-49.

Murakami, S. and Johnson T.E. (2001) The OLD-1 positive regulator of longevity and stress resistance is under DAF-16 regulation in Caenorhabditis elegans. in press. Current Biology.

Murakami, S. and Murakami, H. (in review) A quality of life extension in C. elegans. Nature Genetics.