Robert Naviaux

Robert K. Naviaux, MD, PhD, is a Professor in Residence at the University of California, San Diego, California, USA. His work "has focused on the role of mitochondrial DNA replication, copy number regulation, DNA damage, and nucleotide signaling in development, aging, healing and regeneration in mitochondrial mechanisms of disease and development." He was invited to join the Open Medicine Foundation's research team in 2016, following a announcement that the ME/CFS Severely Ill, Big Data Study had a significant result in the area of mitochondria.

Dr. Naviaux directs the Robert Naviaux Laboratory at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) whose work is "divided into two groups: 1) Mitochondrial Mechanisms of Disease and Development, and 2) Evolutionary Systems Biology and Marine Metagenomics." He is founder and co-director of the Mitochondrial and Metabolic Disease Center at UCSD, the co-founder and a former president of the Mitochondrial Medicine Society, as well as, a founding associate editor of the journal, Mitochondrion.

Dr. Naviaux "discovered the cause and created the diagnostic test for Alpers syndrome, a mitochondrial disease... [and] is the director of the first FDA-approved clinical trial to study suramin [an antiparasitic drug] as a treatment for autism."

Currently, Dr. Naviaux is using his mitochrondria expertise, especially in metabolomics, to look for a biomarker and potential treatment for ME/CFS.

In May 2016, a study was launched, led by Dr. Naviaux and Dr. Ronald Davis, in collaboration with Dr. Eric Gordon, Dr. Paul Cheney, and the Stanford Genome Technology Center in order "to validate earlier findings of a possible diagnostic signature for ME/CFS by measuring metabolites and to evaluate the contribution of genetics to the variation in observed metabolic signatures in this disease." The initial phase, with a total of 90 participants, has been completed and suggests "the mitochondria is in hypometabolism due to a chronic cell danger response state in ME/CFS patients."

Education

 * 1994-1997 - Fellowship (Biochemical Genetics, mtDNA Replication), University of California, San Diego Medical Center, San Diego, CA
 * 1990-1994 - Postdoctorate (Retrovirology, Gene Therapy), The Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA
 * 1986-1990 - Internship and Residency, Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), Clinical Investigator Pathway, University of California, Davis
 * 1986, 1989 - M.D., Ph.D. (Genetics, Virology), Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
 * 1981 - M.S. (Zoology), Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
 * 1979 - B.S. (Biological Sciences), University of California, Davis, CA
 * 1977-1978 - Undergraduate (Biochemistry), Georg August Universität, Göttingen, Germany

Notable studies

 * Metabolic features of the cell danger response (2014)
 * Mitochondrial control of epigenetics (2008)
 * Developing a systematic approach to the diagnosis and classification of mitochondrial disease (2004)

Awards and Honors

 * 2008, Hailey’s Wish Foundation	- Hailey’s Hero Award, For Outstanding Research and Clinical Care of children with mitochondrial disease
 * 2007, Thomson ESI - Science Citation Index “Fast Moving Front Article”
 * 2007, United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation Mitochondrial Medicine - Best Abstract Award
 * 2002, Honored in a non-fiction book entitled, Anna’s Friends — Lessons Learned from a Short and Beautiful Life

Talks & interviews
Youtube - Mitochondria and Autism (2011)

Articles

 * 2016, "Mitochondria Man Gets His Money and the UK Goes Mega: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research Moving Forward"

Online presence

 * PubMed for Robert Naviaux
 * University of California, San Diego Faculty Website
 * YouTube talks for Robert Naviaux on autism
 * Health Rising Forum for Robert Naviaux

Learn more

 * Naviaux Laboratory at UC San Diego
 * The Significance of Reversing Autism-Like Features in Two Distinct Mouse Models With a Single Drug, Suramin