David J. Pinsky, M.D.
J. Griswold & Marjory Hopkins Ruth Professor and Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine
Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology
Director, Samuel and Jean Frankel Cardiovascular Center, University of Michigan
J. Griswold & Marjory Hopkins Ruth Professor and Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine
Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology
Director, Samuel and Jean Frankel Cardiovascular Center, University of Michigan
Pinsky is studying how key ectoenzymes impede the formation of clots and the recruitment of white cells to damaged brain or heart tissue. His current work focuses on taking his discoveries from the test tube and genetically-engineered mice into humans, through the development of soluble enzyme therapy or through medicines which can bolster the body’s own protective enzymes. His team is also working on measuring enzyme fragments in the blood stream of humans to help detect hidden blood clots at a very early stage before they break loose and wreak havoc. Pinsky’s goal is to understand, amplify and harness a blood vessel’s natural defenses in order to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to treat these all-too-common human afflictions.
He is an elected member of honorary scientific societies including the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians, and the Association of University Cardiologists. He has served on and chaired numerous national peer-review and strategy panels for the American Heart Association, the Department of Defense, and the National Institutes of Health, and is a popular lecturer world-wide. He currently serves asa FoundingScholar of the Taubman Medical Research Institute at the University of Michigan, an institute dedicated to supporting physician scientists and their quests to cure disease.
Faculty of Biochemistry, Dean
Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, The Weizmann Institute of Science
In his research, Prof. Levy probes the evolutionary processes that have generated hundreds of thousands of plant species, compared to only a few thousand species of mammals. His research asks: What are the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms responsible for biodiversity in the plant kingdom?This includes mechanistic studies on hybridization, genome doubling, DNA recombination, DNA repair and genome stability as well as population genetics analyses of wheat evolution in the wild habitat. A better understand of these mechanisms might be used to improve food production, to assess evolution under climate change as well as to find alternative energy solutions. In particular, he harnesses advanced genetic manipulation techinques, such as genome editing, to engineer plants with desired features in a precise manner.
Prof. Levy coordinates a group of Israeli scientists who are working on precise genome editing in plants, and serves on the scientific board of Israeli Agro-biotech companies. He was awarded the Landau Prize of Mifal Hapais for Plant Sciences and was the recipient of an ERC grant for targeted engineering of plant genomes. He previously served as President of the Genetic Society of Israel.
Prof. Avraham Levy is the incumbent of the Gilbert de Botton Professorial Chair of Plant Sciences and he is the Director of the Y. Leon Benoziyo Institute for Molecular Medicine; and the Dr. Erhard, Emmi, and Fred Loewinsohn Center for Pediatric Health.
Prof. Levy is married and he is the father of four children.
Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology, The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, The Technion–Israel Institute of Technology