Gary G. Borisy

Gary Borisy is best known for his research directed at understanding how cells crawl, how they divide and how they acquire their shape, all fundamental processes underlying cell function in health and disease. He discovered tubulin, the protein subunit of which microtubules are comprised and contributed fundamental insights into our understanding of the mitotic spindle and the motile lamellipodium. He developed novel techniques for imaging fluorescent molecules in living cells and for correlating their distributions with electron micrographs of the same cells. Recently, he has begun a new line of investigation exploring the structure of microbial communities through combinatorial labeling, spectral imaging and metagenomics. His current research focus is on visualizing the oral microbiome. Dr. Borisy is a recipient of numerous awards including an NIH MERIT Award, the Carl Zeiss Award from the German Society for Cell Biology, the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Chicago, and the E.B. Wilson Award from the American Society of Cell Biology. Dr. Borisy is a past President of the American Society for Cell Biology, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He has authored or co-authored over 225 papers with more than 22,000 total citations.