Michael Menaker
| Michael Menaker | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 19, 1934 New York City, New York |
| Residence | Virginia |
| Fields |
Biology, College Administration |
| Doctoral advisor | Colin Pittendrigh |
Michael Menaker (born May 19, 1934), a chronobiology researcher, is Commonwealth Professor of Biology at University of Virginia, Charlottesville. His research has been on circadian rhythmicity of vertebrates, and includes: contributing to an understanding of light input pathways on extra-retinal photoreceptors of non-mammalian vertebrates, discovering a mammalian mutation for circadian rhythmicity (tau mutation in golden hamsters), and locating a circadian oscillator in the pineal gland of bird. He has written almost 200 scientific publications.
Menaker grew up in New York City and attended Swarthmore College.
After graduating from Swarthmore College in 1955 with a B.A. in Biology, Menaker went on to Princeton University. In the lab of Colin Pittendrigh, the father of research on biological clocks, Menaker studied the endogenous circadian rhythm of bats (Myotis lucifugus).
He graduated from Princeton University with a Ph.D. in 1960, and continued postdoctoral studies in Donald Griffin's lab at Harvard University. As he continued to study bats, his interest shifted from circadian rhythms to hibernation patterns. When Menaker joined faculty at University of Texas, Austin in 1962, he transitioned to studying circadian rhythms in the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus).
Menaker has held academic positions at the University of Texas, University of Oregon, and presently, at University of Virginia, where he has been the Commonwealth Professor of Biology since 1987. He served as Chairman of the Biology Department at Virginia from 1987-1993. He has mentored several experts in the field of chronobiology, including Joseph Takahashi, Chair of the Neuroscience Department at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Heidi Hamm, Chair of the Pharmacology Department at Vanderbilt University; and Carl Johnson Professor of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University. He has authored almost 200 papers and maintained grant funding to support his research for over 60 years.
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