Michael A. Savageau (born 3 December 1940) is a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics and Biomedical Engineering at The

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

. He was named

Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(IEEE) in 2013 ''for application of systems engineering concepts to molecular biology''.

Early life and education

Michael Antonio Savageau one of seven children, was born in Fargo,

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

on December 3, 1940. His father was a barber and his mother was a schoolteacher. He was an avid hockey and tennis player through high school, and he has credited sports with teaching him valuable life and professional skills. He struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia throughout his entire academic career, but he developed compensatory strategies. For example, he was unable to take notes in lecture classes, so he developed formidable concentration and memory skills. His dyslexia sparked his interest in mathematics and he excelled in those classes. Savageau graduated from Fargo Central High School in 1958 and went on to earn his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in Engineering from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 1962, and a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

in 1963. He was accepted into the

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

program in

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1963, and it was there that he began to develop his interest in applying engineering principles and methodologies to biological systems. Savageau was a postdoctoral fellow at both The

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(1967 - 1968, in the laboratory of Prof. Isaac Harary) and

(1968 - 1970, in the laboratory of Prof. J.P. Steward) prior to joining the faculty at The

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1970. He initiated Michigan’s interdisciplinary training program in Cellular Biotechnology and its interdisciplinary Bioinformatics Program. He also chaired the Department of Microbiology & Immunology from 1979 to 1985 and from 1992 to 2002 and was named the Nicolas Rashevsky Distinguished University Professor in 2002. After moving to the

in 2003 he chaired the Department of Biomedical Engineering from 2005 to 2008

Personal life

Savageau met fellow student Ann Birky, (currently Ann Savageau, an artist and professor of art and design), at Stanford and they were married in 1967. They raised their family in

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, where both of them held faculty positions at The

. They had three children, Mark, Patrick and Elisa, all of whom have preceded them in death. They are helping to raise their grandchildren in

Davis Davis may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Davis (Antarctica) * Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago) * Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land Canada * Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community * Davis Strait, between Nunavut and Gre ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Awards and honors

Dr. Savageau’s honors include Guggenheim Fellow, Fulbright Senior Research Fellow, Michigan Society of Fellows,

American Academy of Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

Fellow, Foundation for Microbiology Lecturer,

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

Fellow,

American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) is a non-profit organization founded in 1991, and headquartered in Washington. It represents 50,000 medical and biomedical engineers, and academic institutions, private industry, ...

Fellow,

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

Fellow, Moore Distinguished Scholar at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques Award, 79th Josiah Willard Gibbs Lecturer for the American Mathematical Society, Stanislaw Ulam Distinguished Scholar Award from the Center for Non-Linear Studies,

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

, Member of the US

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, En ...

, Honorary Doctor of Science, Universitat de Lleida, Spain, The Michael A. Savageau Collegiate Professorship in Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics permanently endowed by the

, and the Akira Okubo Prize.

Selected publications

Dr. Savageau's scientific career includes one book and over 170 peer-reviewed scientific publications, which cover diverse mathematical and biological questions. Below are listed some of his key publications, sorted by topic. Biochemical Systems Theory * Savageau, M.A. (1969). Biochemical systems analysis: I. Some mathematical properties of the rate law for the component enzymatic reactions. J. Theor. Biol. ''25'', 365-369. * Savageau, M.A. (1969). Biochemical systems analysis: II. The steady-state solutions for an n- pool system using a power-law approximation. J. Theor. Biol. ''25'', 370–379. * Savageau, M.A. (1970). Biochemical systems analysis: III. Dynamic solutions using a power-law approximation. J. Theor. Biol. ''26'', 215-226. * Savageau, M.A., Voit, E.O. (1987). Recasting nonlinear differential equations as S-systems: a canonical nonlinear form. Math. Biosci. ''87'', 83-115. * Savageau, M.A. (1971). Parameter sensitivity as a criterion for evaluating and comparing the performance of biochemical systems. Nature ''229'', 542-544. Gene Circuits & Design Principles * Savageau. M.A. (1974). Comparison of classical and autogenous systems of regulation in inducible operons. Nature ''252'', 546-549. * Hlavacek, W.S., Savageau, M.A. (1996). Rules for coupled expression of regulator and effector genes in inducible circuits. J. Mol. Biol. ''255'', 121-139. * Savageau, M.A. (2001). Design principles for elementary gene circuits: Elements, methods, and examples. Chaos ''11'', 142-159. * Atkinson, M.R., Savageau, M.A., Myers, J.T., Ninfa, A.J. (2003). Development of genetic circuitry exhibiting toggle switch or oscillatory behavior in Escherichia coli. Cell ''113'', 597-607. * Wall, M.E., Hlavacek, W.S., Savageau, M.A. (2004). Design of gene circuits: lessons from bacteria. Nat. Rev. Genet. ''5'', 34-42. Method of Mathematically Controlled Comparison * Savageau, M.A (1972). The behavior of intact biochemical control systems. Curr. Top. Cell. Reg. ''6'', 63–130. * Savageau, M.A. (1974). Optimal design of feedback control by inhibition: steady-state considerations. J. Mol. Evol., ''4'', 139–156. * Irvine, D.H. and Savageau, M.A. (1985). Network regulation of the immune response: alternative control points for suppressor modulation of effector lymphocytes. J. Immunol., ''134'', 2100– 2116. * Hlavacek, W.S. and Savageau, M.A. (1996) Rules for coupled expression of regulator and effector genes in inducible circuits. J. Mol. Biol. ''255'', 121–139. * Alves, R., Savageau, M.A. (2000). Extending the method of mathematically controlled comparison to include numerical comparisons. Bioinformatics ''16'', 786–798. Design Space Approach, Design Space Toolbox, and Phenotype-centric Modeling Strategy * Savageau, M.A., Coelho, P.M.B.M., Fasani, R.A., Tolla, D.A., Salvador, A. (2009). Phenotypes and tolerances in the design space of biochemical systems. PNAS ''106'', 6435-6440. * Fasani, R.A., Savageau, M.A. (2010). Automated construction and analysis of the design space for biochemical systems. Bioinformatics ''26'', 2601-2609. * Lomnitz, J.G., Savageau, M.A. (2016). Design Space Toolbox V2: automated software enabling a novel phenotype-centric modeling strategy for natural and synthetic biological systems. Front. Genet. ''7'', 118. * Valderrama-Gómez, M.A., Parales, R.E., Savageau, M.A. (2018). Phenotype-centric modeling for elucidation of biological design principles. J. Theor. Biol. ''455'', 281-292. * Valderrama-Gómez, M.A, Lomnitz, J.G., Fasani, RA, Savageau, M.A. (2020). Mechanistic modeling of biochemical systems without a priori parameter values using the Design Space Toolbox v. 3.0. iScience 101200. Books * Biochemical Systems Analysis: A Study of Function and Design in Molecular Biology, Addison-Wesley 1976.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savageau, Michael Fellow Members of the IEEE Living people 1940 births Members of the National Academy of Medicine