Garth Nicolson

Garth L. Nicolson, PhD, (b.1943), is an American biochemist. He's the Founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer of The Institute for Molecular Medicine, California. His career has covered many scientific and medical areas, but he is best known professionally for advancing the understanding of cell membranes. Nicolson coauthored with S.J. Singer, a classic paper in cell biology, titled "The fluid mosaic model of the structure of cell membranes" in 1972.

Dr. Nicolson has researched the role of chronic infections in a variety of chronic illnesses, including myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, Gulf War Illness, and other autoimmune diseases. His extensive work on Gulf War Illness earned him the prestigious awards of an Honorary title of Colonel of the US Army Special Forces and an Honorary title of U.S. Navy SEAL.

Notable studies

 * 2014, Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Chronic Disease: Treatment With Natural Supplements.
 * 2014, Lipid Replacement Therapy: a natural medicine approach to replacing damaged lipids in cellular membranes and organelles and restoring function.
 * 2007, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients Subsequently Diagnosed with Lyme Disease Borrelia burgdorferi: Evidence for Mycoplasma Species Coinfections"'Abstract - Objective: We examined the blood of 48 North American chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients subsequently diagnosed with Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi infection) and compared these with 50 North American CFS patients without evidence of Borrelia burgdorferi infections for presence of Mycoplasma species coinfections using forensic polymerase chain reaction. Results: We found that 68.75% of CFS/Lyme patients show evidence of mycoplasma coinfections (odds ratio [OR] = 41.8; confidence limits [CL] = 11.3–155; and p < .001) compared with controls, whereas 50% of CFS patients without a diagnosis of Lyme disease show Mycoplasma coinfections (OR = 19.0; CL = 5.3–69; and p < .001) compared with controls. Because CFS patients without a diagnosis of Lyme disease have a high prevalence of one of four Mycoplasma species and a majority show evidence of multiple infections, we examined CFS/Lyme patients' blood for various Mycoplasma species. We found that CFS patients with Lyme disease mostly had single species Mycoplasma infections (OR = 31.7; CL = 8.6–116; and p < .001) with a preponderance of Mycoplasma fermentans infections (50% of patients; OR = 59.0; CL = 7.6–460; and p < .001), whereas the most commonly found Mycoplasma species in CFS patients without Lyme disease was Mycoplasma pneumoniae (34% of patients; OR = 14.94; CL = 3.3–69; and p < .001). Conclusions: The results indicate that a subset of CFS patients show evidence of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, and a large fraction of these patients were also infected with Mycoplasma fermentans and to a lesser degree with other Mycoplasma species.'"
 * 2006, Lipid Replacement and Antioxidant Nutritional Therapy for Restoring Mitochondrial Function and Reducing Fatigue in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Other Fatiguing Illnesses"'Abstract - Evidence in the literature indicates that diminished mitochondrial function through loss of efficiency in the electron transport chain caused by oxidation occurs during aging and in fatiguing illnesses. Lipid Replacement Therapy (LRT) administered as a nutritional supplement with antioxidants can prevent oxidative membrane damage, and LRT can be used to restore mitochondrial and other cellular membrane functions via delivery of undamaged replacement lipids to cellular organelles. Recent clinical trials using patients with chronic fatigue have shown the benefit of LRT plus antioxidants in restoring mitochondrial electron transport function and reducing moderate to severe chronic fatigue. These studies indicate the benefits of LRT plus antioxidants in reducing fatigue and preventing loss of mitochondrial function, most likely by protecting mitochondrial and other cellular membranes from oxidative and other damage and removing damaged lipids by lipid replacement. In one clinical study we determined if mitochondrial function is reduced in subjects with mild to severe chronic fatigue, and if this can be reversed with NTFactor®, a nutritional supplement that replaces damaged cellular lipids. With the use of the Piper Fatigue Scale, there was a significant time-dependent reduction in overall fatigue in moderately or severely fatigued subjects while on the dietary supplement for 4-8 weeks. Analysis of mitochrondrial function indicated that four and eight weeks of the dietary supplement in moderately or severely fatigued subjects significantly increased mitochondrial function. Similarly, chronic fatigue syndrome patients administered antioxidants plus LRT also show reductions in fatigue. The results indicate that LRT plus antioxidants can significantly reduce moderate to severe chronic fatigue and restore mitochondrial function. Dietary use of unoxidized membrane lipids plus antioxidants is recommended for patients with moderate to severe chronic fatigue.'"
 * 2004, Article - Gulf War Veterans: Evidence for Chromosome Alterations and Their Significance
 * 2003, Nutritional Supplement (NT Factor™) Restores Mitochondrial Function and Reduces Moderately Severe Fatigue in Aged Subjects"'Abstract - Decreased mitochondrial function is a characteristic of aging and fatigue. Here we determined if mild to moderately severe fatigue in a group of aged subjects (mean age > 60 years), as defined by the validated Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS), can be significantly improved by use of a glycophospholipid dietary supplement, NT Factor™ (NTF). In addition, we determined if mitochondrial function, as defined by transport of the redox dye Rhodamine-123, is reduced in aging subjects with mild to moderately severe fatigue, and if this can be reversed with NTF supplementation in concert with improvement in fatigue scores. Participants with mild to moderately severe fatigue, who fulfilled the entry requirements were admitted to the study when their fatigue could not be explained by an obvious clinical condition. Twenty of the respondents (mean age = 68.9 ±4.18) completed the first part of the study on NTF for 12 weeks, and 16 of these subjects who agreed to discontinue the product also completed a wash-out period for an additional 12 weeks. Fatigue and mitochondrial function were determined every four weeks during the study. There was a time-dependent reduction in overall fatigue in moderately fatigued subjects (P < .001) but not in mildly fatigued subjects. Mitochondrial function at four and eight weeks of NTF use in moderately fatigued subjects increased by 15% and 26.8%, respectively, and restored mitochondrial function to levels similar to those found in young adults. No further increase was noted between 8 and 12 weeks. Post-NTF there was a slow redevelopment of fatigue and a fall in mitochondrial function in moderately fatigued subjects, indicating that continued use of NTF may be necessary to maintain lower fatigue scores and maintain mitochondrial function. The dietary supplement with NTF reduced moderate fatigue and increased mitochondrial function in aged subjects but had no effect upon mild fatigue expression.'"
 * 2003, Evidence for Bacterial (Mycoplasma, Chlamydia) and Viral (HHV-6) Co-Infections in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients"'Abstract - Using the blood of 100 CFS patients and forensic polymerase chain reaction we have found that a majority of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) patients show evidence of multiple, systemic bacterial and viral infections (OR = 18.0, 95%CL 8.5–37.9, P >0.001) that could play an important role in CFS morbidity. CFS patients had a high prevalence (51%) of one of four Mycoplasma species (OR = 13.8, 95%CL 5.8–32.9, P >0.001) and often showed evidence of co-infections with different Mycoplasma species, Chlamydia pneumoniae (OR = 8.6,95%CL 1.0–71.1, P >0.01) and/or active Human Herpes Virus-6 (HHV-6) (OR = 4.5,95%CL 2.0–10.2, P >0.001). We found that 8% of the CFS patients showed evidence of C. pneumoniae and 31% of active HHV-6 infections. Since the presence of one or more chronic systemic infections may predispose patients to other infections, we examined the prevalence of C. pneumoniae and active HHV-6 infections in mycoplasma-positive and -negative patients. The incidence of C. pneumoniae or HHV-6 was similar in mycoplasma-positive and -negative patients, suggesting that such infections occur independently in CFS patients. Also, the incidence of C. pneumoniae in active HHV-6-positive and -negative patients was similar. Control subjects (N = 100) had low rates of mycoplasma (6%), active HHV-6 (9%) or chlamydia (1%) infections, and there were no coinfections in control subjects. Differences in bacterial and/or viral infections in CFS patients compared to control subjects were significant. The results indicate that a relatively large subset of CFS patients show evidence of bacterial and viral co-infections.'"
 * 2003, High Prevalence of Mycoplasma Infections in Symptomatic (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) Family Members of Mycoplasma-Positive Gulf War Illness Patients"'Abstract - Immediate family members of veterans diagnosed with Gulf War Illnesses (GWI) often complain of fatiguing illnesses, and upon analysis they report similar signs and symptoms as their veteran family members. Since a relatively common finding in Gulf War illness patients is a bacterial infection due to Mycoplasma spp., we examined military families (149 patients: 42 veterans, 40 spouses, 32 other relatives and 35 children with at least one family complaint of illness) selected from a group of 110 veterans with Gulf War illness who tested positive (∼41%) for at least one of four Mycoplasma spp.: M. fermentans, M. hominis, M. pneumoniae or M. genitalium. Consistent with previous results, over 80% of Gulf War illness patients who were positive for blood mycoplasma infections had only one Mycoplasma spp. (Odds ratio = 9.0, 95%CL 3.3–24.3, P >.0.001), in particular M. fermentans (Odds ratio = 17.9, 95%CL 4.1–78.1, P >.0.001). In healthy control subjects the incidence of mycoplasma infection was ∼8.5% and none were found to have multiple mycoplasma species (Multiple species Odds ratio >25, Chi2 = 8.1, P >.0.004). In 107 family members of mycoplasma-positive Gulf War illness patients there were 57 patients (53%) that had essentially the same signs and symptoms as the veterans and were diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and/or Fibromyalgia Syndrome. Most of these CFS patients also had mycoplasma infections compared to the few non-symptomatic family members (Odds ratio = 16.9, 95%CL 6.0–47.6, P >.0.001), and the most common species found was M. fermentans (Odds ratio = 40.3, 95%CL 8.7–186.4, P >.0.001). In contrast, in the few non-symptomatic family members that tested mycoplasma-positive, the Mycoplasma spp. were often different from the species found in the Gulf War illness patients. The results suggest that a subset of Gulf War illness patients have mycoplasma infections, possibly obtained as contaminants from multiple vaccines given during deployment, and these infections can be transmitted to immediate family members who subsequently display similar signs and symptoms and are diagnosed with CFS and/or Fibromyalgia Syndrome.'"
 * 2003, Deregulation of the 2,5A Synthetase RNase L Antiviral Pathway by Mycoplasma spp. in Subsets of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome"'Abstract - The deregulation of the 2,5A synthetase RNase L antiviral pathway and the prevalence of Mycoplasma spp. in subsets of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) have been separately reported in the scientific literature. We hypothesised that a comorbid pathophysiological mechanism involving infection by Mycoplasma spp. and the deregulation of the 2,5A synthetase/RNase L antiviral pathway may exist in CFS. Therefore, 186 consecutive CFS patients were enrolled. Mycoplasma detection was performed using forensic polymerase chain reaction. For RNase L determination, a radioactive probe was used to label 2,5A binding proteins in unfractionated peripheral blood mononuclear cell extracts. Mycoplasma-infected CFS patients presented with significantly elevated RNase L-ratio, compared to non-infected age- and sex-matched patients (p = 0.016). These results suggest that mycoplasma infections may cause deregulation of the 2,5A synthetase RNase L antiviral pathway in patients with CFS.'"
 * 2002, High prevalence of Mycoplasma infections among European chronic fatigue syndrome patients. Examination of four Mycoplasma species in blood of chronic fatigue syndrome patients.

Research Institute location

 * Institute Headquarters - Office of the President - 31677 Virginia Way P.O. Box 9355, South Laguna Beach, CA 92652
 * Department of Immunology - 16371 Gothard St., H Huntington Beach, CA, 92647

Talks and interviews

 * Dr. Garth Nicolson speaks about NT Factor
 * 2009, 4th Invest in ME International ME Conference 2009 Similar Infections Found in ME/CFS and Neurodegenerative and Neurobehavioral DiseasesDVD available

Online presence

 * PubMed
 * Website
 * YouTube

Learn more

 * Wikipedia - Garth Nicolson
 * 2016, Is chronic fatigue syndrome finally being taken seriously?