Dr. Gelfand is laboratory chief at the Institute for Information Transmission Problems (the Kharkevich Institute), Russian Academy of Sciences, in Moscow. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1993 from the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, in Pushchino, and his D.Sc. in biology in 1998 from the Research Institute for the Genetics and Selection of Industrial Microorganisms in Moscow. In 1999, he received the A.A. Baev Prize for work on human genomics. In 2000, he received the President of the Russian Federation's Award for Young Doctors of Science, and, in 2004, he received one of only three prizes titled, "Best Scientist (Doctors of Science, Biology) of the Russian Academy of Sciences." In 2006, he shared with collaborator A.A. Mironov the A.A. Baev Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences for work in comparative genomics and the "Nauka" Publishers award for the best publication in a Russian scientific journal. He was first named an HHMI international research scholar in 2000. This is his second HHMI award.

Mikhail Gelfand’s research involves computer-assisted comparison of genomes with the aim of functional annotation of genes, describing regulatory patterns, and uncovering the evolutionary history of genes and regulatory systems.