Gary W. Litman, PhD
Dr. Litman was born in the United States. He was an Assistant Professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Pathology in 1972, an Associate Member/Head in the Sloan-Kettering Institute Macromolecular Biochemistry Section from 1972-1985, an Associate Professor of Biology in the Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences Sloan-Kettering Division from 1973-1980, the Director of the Special Clinical Immunochemistry Laboratory at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center from 1975-1985, an Associate Professor of Genetics in the Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences Sloan-Kettering Division from 1976-1985, the Chairman of the Biology Unit in the Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences Sloan-Kettering Division from 1978-1980, an Associate Professor of Immunology in the Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences Sloan-Kettering Division from 1980-1985, and a Senior Member and Chairman of the Tampa Bay Research Institute Department of Molecular Genetics from 1985-1990. In 1990 he joined the faculty of the University of South Florida College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics as the Hines Endowed Chair Professor of Pediatric Research and also joined All Children’s Hospital as the Head of the Department of Molecular Genetics. In 2004 he was bestowed the honor of Distinguished University Professor at the University of South Florida College of Medicine and in 2005 he became the Vice Chairman for Basic Sciences and the Director of the Children’s Research Institute.
In 1995 Dr. Litman received a National Institutes of Health MERIT award for his research on the evolutionary origins of immune-type genes. Dr. Litman’s major research interests are developmental immunology and genomics of immune systems.
Education & Training
| B.A. | University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Microbiology, 1967 |
| Ph.D. | University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Microbiology, 1972 |
Scholarly Activity
Current Funding:
- National Institutes of Health R01 AI23338-25, EARLY EVOLUTIONARY ORIGINS OF IMMUNE-TYPE GENES, 5/1/04-4/30/09
- National Institutes of Health R01 AI57559-04, NOVEL INNATE IMMUNE RECEPTORS IN ZEBRAFISH, 12/15/04-11/30/09
Select Publications
Cannon JP, Haire RN, Litman GW. Identification of diversified genes that contain immunoglobulin-like variable regions in a protochordate. Nature Immunology, 2002, 3, 1200-1207.
Litman GW, Cannon JP, Dishaw LJ. Reconstructing immune phylogeny: new perspectives. Nature Reviews Immunology, 2005, 5, 866-879.
Hernández Prada JA, Haire RN, Allaire M, Jakoncic J, Stojanoff V, Cannon JP, Litman GW, Ostrov DA. Ancient evolutionary origin of diversified variable regions revealed by crystal structures of an amphioxus VCBP. Nature Immunology, 2006, 7, 875-882.
Rast JP, Smith LC, Loza-Coll M, Hibino T, Litman GW. Genomic insights into the immune system of the sea urchin. Science, 2006, 314, 952-956.
Cannon JP, Haire RN, Magis AT, Eason DD, Winfrey KN, Hernandez Prada JA, Bailey KM, Jakoncic J, Litman GW, Ostrov DA. A bony fish immunological receptor of the NITR multigene family mediates allogeneic recognition. Immunity, 2008, 29, 228-237.
