Fred "Rusty" Gage (born October 8, 1950) is an American geneticist known for his discovery of stem cells in the adult human brain.
[1] Gage is a former president (2018–2023) of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies,[2] where he holds the Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Disease and works in the Laboratory of Genetics.
[3] His work may lead to methods of replacing brain tissue lost to stroke or Alzheimer's disease and repairing spinal cords damaged by trauma.
Because he was living in the rich historic city of Rome, Gage remembers focusing on art history and humanities throughout high school.
[1] After graduating from high school, Gage received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida, where he worked in the brain research laboratory.
[8] His lab studies the genomic mosaicism that exists in the brain as a result of “jumping genes,” mobile elements, and DNA damage that occurs during development.