Jay Tischfield is MacMillan Professor II and the Founding Chair of the Department of Genetics at Rutgers University

Rutgers University

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...

.. He is currently Director of the Human Genetics Institue of New Jersey.

He also is the CEO and scientific director of the Rutgers University Cell & DNA Repository, the largest university-based repository in the world. Tischfield has four U.S patents to his name.

Education and career

Professor Tischfield obtained his bachelor’s degree in biology in 1967 at the City University of New York

City University of New York

The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...

, Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...

. He finished his master’s degree in biology at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 in 1969, where he received his PhD in 1973.

At Yale, Tischfield worked on mapping human genes to chromosomes. He used mice-man somatic cell hybridization to find out which genes are on which chromosomes. He identified the gene for indophenol oxidase in mammals.
Later, this gene was identified by researchers from Duke University

Duke University

Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

 as the gene coding for the enzyme superoxide dismutase

Superoxide dismutase

Superoxide dismutases are a class of enzymes that catalyze the dismutation of superoxide into oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. As such, they are an important antioxidant defense in nearly all cells exposed to oxygen...

, which is involved in Down syndrome

Down syndrome

Down syndrome, or Down's syndrome, trisomy 21, is a chromosomal condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. It is named after John Langdon Down, the British physician who described the syndrome in 1866. The condition was clinically described earlier in the 19th...

 and some cases of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a form of motor neuron disease caused by the degeneration of upper and lower neurons, located in the ventral horn of the spinal cord and the cortical neurons that provide their efferent input...

 (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease).

Professor Tischfield is a diplomate of the American Board of Medical Genetics in PhD Medical Genetics and Clinical Molecular Genetics. He is a Founding Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics.

Professor Tischfield’s research at Rutgers University focuses on the genetic basis of complex diseases that are caused by a number of genes, and often triggered by environmental causes. Tischfield’s lab investigates [autism], alcohol addiction and dihydroxyadenine urolithiasis and cystinuria, kidney diseases characterized by severe kidney stones. The laboratory has developed knockout mouse models for both kidney stone diseases and is developing therapies.

Another research area is focused on loss of heterozygosity

Loss of heterozygosity

Loss of heterozygosity in a cell is the loss of normal function of one allele of a gene in which the other allele was already inactivated. This term is mostly used in the context of oncogenesis; after an inactivating mutation in one allele of a tumor suppressor gene occurs in the parent's germline...

, a side effect of DNA-repair and recombination. Via this mechanism, tumor suppressor genes can be deactivated, leading to cancer.

Tischfield’s group uses population studies to find genes that are involved in diseases, using samples from the Rutgers University Cell & DNA Repository. In the past, the Repository contributed samples to a research project concerning the genetic causes of progeria

Progeria

Progeria is an extremely rare genetic condition wherein symptoms resembling aspects of aging are manifested at an early age. The word progeria comes from the Greek words "pro" , meaning "before", and "géras" , meaning "old age"...

. This study revealed that progeria patients have a defect in the Lamin A gene on chromosome 1. The discovery led to a clinical drug trial with a farnesyl transferase inhibitor, that started in May 2007.

Professor Tischfield's role has extended from science to University and New Jersey State politics and in 2011 NJBIZ listed Tischfield as being the 85th most powerful person in New Jersey business because of his political influence.

Personal

Tischfield is married and has three sons, all involved in biological science research. The oldest has completed his PhD in neuroscience, his middle some is working on his PhD in computational biology, while the youngest is completing an MD-PhD in neuroscience Jay Tischfield is also a big fan of Donald Duck

Donald Duck

Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...

.

During his time as an undergraduate student, Tischfield was interested in marine biology, but events led to studying yeast genetics instead. During that time, he took on scuba diving, and is an experienced diver today.

His other hobbies include building computers, photography and auto racing.

Career timeline

• 1972-1973 Postdoctoral Fellow (NIH), Departments of Pediatrics and Biochemistry, University of California San Francisco
• 1972-1974 Assistant Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University
  Case Western Reserve University
  Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...
  
  
• 1974-1978: Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University
• 1978-1987 Associate Professor of Anatomy, Cell and Molecular Biology, Pediatrics, and Graduate Studies, Medical College of Georgia
  Medical College of Georgia
  Georgia Health Sciences University formerly known as, and now home of the, Medical College of Georgia , is a public academic health center, with its main campus located in the Medical District of Augusta, Georgia. It is the smallest of four research universities in the University System of Georgia...
  
  
• 1987-1998 Professor and Director, Division of Molecular Genetics, Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine
  Indiana University School of Medicine
  The Indiana University School of Medicine is a leading medical school and medical research powerhouse connected to Indiana University. With several teaching campuses in the state, the School of Medicine has its predominant research and medical center at the Indiana University – Purdue University...
  
  
• 1989-1998: Director, Cell and DNA Repositories, Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine
• 1989-2008 Adjunct (Volunteer) Professor, Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Cincinnati
  University of Cincinnati
  The University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....
  
  , College of Medicine
• 1999-2010 Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Chair in Genetics, Rutgers University
  Rutgers University
  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
  
  
• Since 1998 Professor II, Department of Genetics, Rutgers University
• Since 1999 Professor of Pediatrics and Psycjiatry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
• Since 2004 Executive Director, Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey (HGINJ)

Awards

• Rutgers Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Research (2011)
• Election as American Association for the Advancement of Science
  American Association for the Advancement of Science
  The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
  
  Fellow (2007)
• Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Endowed Chair in Genetics (1999-)
• Elliot Ossermann Award for Distinguished Service in Support of Cancer Research, Israel Cancer Research Fund (1994)
• Distinguished Alumnus Award and Medal, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (1990)