Martin Raff

Martin Charles Raff (born 15 January 1938) is a Canadian/British biologist and researcher who is an Emeritus Professor at the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology (LMCB) at University College London (UCL). His research has been in immunology, cell biology, and developmental neurobiology.

Early life Raff was born and educated in Montreal, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in 1959 and an M.D.C.M. in 1963, both from McGill University.

Career Raff was an intern and assistant resident in medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal (1963–65) and a resident in neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (1965–68). He did postdoctoral research in immunology with Avrion Mitchison at the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill, London (1968–1971), after which he moved to University College London, where he has been since 1971. He served as president of the British Society of Cell Biology (1991–95). He retired from active science in 2002, but he continued to serve on various scientific advisory boards in Europe and America until 2018. After his first retirement, when his grandson was diagnosed with autism, he became interested in the neurobiological basis of autism.

Awards and honours Raff has received the following awards for his research: 1974: Nominated a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) 1985: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) 1989: Honorary Member of the American Neurological Society 1998: Inaugural Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) 2003: International Member of the National Academy of Sciences 2005: Honorary Degree, McGill University 2006: The Biochemical Society Award 2007: Honorary Degree, Vrije Universiteit Brussel 2010: DART/NYU Biotechnology Achievement Award in Basic Science

Personal life Raff's son is also a scientist.