Speaker Profile
Don W. Cleveland

Don W. Cleveland BS, PhD

Neuroscience, Molecular Biology
La Jolla, California, United States of America

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Dr. Cleveland holds joint appointments in the Departments of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine. In addition, he heads the Laboratory of Cell Biology at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, where he pursues two lines of scientific investigation: deciphering the mechanisms of chromosome movement during mitosis and identifying the mechanisms that mediate the very large change in axonal volume post-synapse formation. The latter is a feature that is essential for nerves to achieve their proper signal conduction velocities.

While his research spans several basic science and clinical disciplines, it is important to note that he was the first to clone tubulin genes and to purify tau protein, the major constituent of neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Cleveland's formal teaching in Neurosciences includes the Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology course. Additionally, he serves on the thesis committees of graduate students in Neurosciences.

His neuroscience-related service activities include membership in the Charcot Prize Panel, Motor Neuron Disease Association, and Scientific Advisory Board of Neurogenics, Inc. He often attends the monthly Neurosciences faculty meetings and actively participates in the annual academic review meetings. He also serves as needed on Neurosciences recruitment committees.

Dr. Cleveland regularly serves as a reviewer for a number of first-tier journals such as Science, Nature, Neuron, Nature Neuroscience, and Journal of Neuroscience. He is a sought-after lecturer and is on the "who's who" list of invited speakers at national and international symposia, including the Gordon Conference, Cold Spring Harbor Meeting, International Meeting on Neurodegeneration, and American Association of Neurology Meeting.
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