ASPB Members Kay, Carrington, and Schmitt Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Steve Kay Photo courtesy of UCSD.

ASPB members Steve Kay, James Carrington, and Johanna Schmitt have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Their elections were announced on April 29, 2008, at the Academy’s 145th annual meeting. Kay, Carrington, and Schmitt were elected individually for their distinguished work and original research in plant science.

ASPB’s three plant biologists were among the 72 members and 18 foreign associates elected this year. Election to NAS is one of the highest honors a scientist or engineer can receive. Potential NAS members can be nominated only by an existing Academy member. Membership is achieved through a formal and confidential election process; no applications are accepted.

Steve Kay

Steve Kay is currently dean of the Division of Biological Sciences and holds the Richard C. Atkinson Chair in the Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. He is also professor of cell and developmental biology. Previously he was chair of the Department of Biochemistry, professor of cell biology, and director of the Institute for Childhood and Neglected Diseases at the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla, Calif., where he was a faculty member from 1996 to 2007. His academic research concerns the molecular genetic basis of circadian rhythms in plants, animals, and humans.

He was also recently director of Discovery Research at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF), where he built a large department in which human genome science is applied to biomedical research and drug discovery. Kay is the founder and former chief technology officer and senior vice president of Phenomix Corporation, a drug discovery and development company based in San Diego.

Kay received his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Bristol, England, in 1981, and he received a PhD in biochemistry from the same institute in 1985. He was a postdoctoral fellow from 1985 to 1989 and then assistant professor from 1989 to 1992 at the Rockefeller University, where he established a research program in the circadian rhythms of the model plant Arabidopsis and the fruit fly Drosophila.

In 1992, Kay joined the University of Virginia, where he developed real-time luciferase reporter technology for measuring subcellular events in live plants and animals. This technology was used to identify several key clock genes in both systems using genetic screens. He joined TSRI in 1996, and his work there has further expanded our knowledge of the molecular components and mechanisms of the action of circadian clocks, ranging from the mechanism of day length sensing in plants to behavioral control in mammals.

Kay stated, “Plant biology is gaining increased importance in the world today with our growing need to develop novel approaches to solving the world’s food crisis and to find ways to beat the high prices at the pump and meet our future energy needs through the development of new biofuels.”

Kay has received a Keck Foundation Faculty Award and the Honma Prize for Life Sciences, along with several other academic awards. His work was cited in 1997, 1998, and 2002 as Science magazine’s “Breakthroughs of the Year.”

James Carrington

James Carrington

James Carrington is professor, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, and director, Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing, Oregon State University, Corvallis.

A California native, Carrington received a BS in plant sciences from the University of California, Riverside (1982), and a PhD with T. Jack Morris at the University of California, Berkeley (1986). He was an NIH postdoctoral fellow (1986–1988) with W. G. Dougherty at North Carolina State University and Oregon State University (OSU) before taking his first faculty position at Texas A&M University.

He moved to Washington State University in 1997 and then to Oregon State University in 2001. At OSU, Carrington serves as director of the Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing. He was an NSF Presidential Young Investigator (1991–1996), was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was corecipient (with W. G. Dougherty) of the Ruth Allen Award from the American Phytopathological Society in 2000. Among many editorial and service positions, he has been a coeditor of The Plant Cell and a member of the Sainsbury Laboratory Council in England.

Carrington’s early work focused on structure of RNA virus genomes and viral replication and movement. He eventually moved into virus–host interactions using the Arabidopsis model. His recent work focuses on the functions, mechanisms, and evolution of small RNA-directed gene-silencing systems in plants.

Carrington had this to say about his experience: “When the phone rings at 6:00 a.m. on the day you know NAS will announce new members, it’s a real jolt. I was fortunate to speak first with Bob Goldberg, who informed me of the election results, and then many others as the phone was passed around. My wife, Teri, and I went quickly to the Internet and e-mail to determine who else was elected, and that was followed immediately by a giddy phone conversation with my good friend, Steve Kay. I am very proud to be elected in the same class as Steve and Marty Yanofsky.

“I sincerely appreciate the honor. But it’s also a humbling experience, as all of the contributions from my lab are the results of hardworking students, postdocs, research assistants, and other scientists. I’ve had some really good people in my group over the years. And we’ve collaborated with some very special scientists, like Detlef Weigel, with whom I am currently on sabbatical.

“Several people were very influential in my career. I would note, in particular, Brian Staskawicz, who was hired as an assistant professor while I was a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. Although it took many years to sink in, he taught me the value of focusing on a problem and making an impact. I have also been influenced heavily by David Baulcombe, who helped me learn that the route forward sometimes requires one to evolve.”

Johanna Schmitt

Johanna Schmitt

Johanna Schmitt is Stephen T. Olney Professor of Natural History in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University in Providence, R.I. Schmitt’s lab is interested in the adaptive evolution of developmental, physiological, and life history traits in natural plant populations. The lab also measures natural selection on these traits and the loci underlying them by experimentally manipulating environments, phenotypes, and genotypes in the field.

Recently, Schmitt and her team have explored the evolution of adaptive plasticity using phytochrome-mediated “shade avoidance” responses to crowding and vegetation shade as a model system. Another major research objective is to elucidate the genetic and ecological mechanisms of adaptation to seasonal and geographic variations in climate. The lab also pursues interests in conservation biology of rare plants, particularly in threatened New England habitats.

Schmitt, who joined the Brown faculty in 1982, studies how plants change over time in response to their environment. Schmitt and her research group use the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana—a member of the mustard family—to study how genetic variation in sensitivity to environmental cues such as day length and temperature affects reproductive success in different regions and climates. In Europe, for example, Arabidopsis can be found from Finland to Spain. How does one species thrive in so many places?

This is the question Schmitt is pursuing with an international team of experts in plant, molecular, and evolutionary biology, as well as ecologists, geneticists, and computer scientists. Answers will help scientists better understand how ongoing climate change will affect crops and wild plants and will point out ways to conserve species.

Schmitt earned her PhD in biology from Stanford University and conducted research at Duke University before coming to Brown. She is president of the Society for the Study of Evolution and is past president of the American Society of Naturalists. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2007, she received a Humboldt Research Award.

Regarding her NAS election, Schmitt recounted, “I was out of my office, so I got the news in a voicemail from Rita Colwell. I feel thrilled and honored to join such distinguished company—including several recent ASPB presidents! But the honor really belongs to the wonderful students, postdocs, and research assistants who have worked in my lab over the years—it has been my privilege to work with them.

“I was inspired to become a plant biologist by my undergraduate mentor at Swarthmore, Jim Hickman, and I would never have made it through graduate school without the support and encouragement of my graduate advisor, Ward Watt. Janis Antonovics was an extraordinary postdoctoral adviser whose influence remains with me every time I design an experiment.

“My fantastic colleagues at Brown are always teaching me new things, from molecular evolution to climate change. I also have learned an incredible amount from my collaborators over the years, especially Renata Wulff, Harry Smith, Michael Purugganan, Trudy Mackay, Steve Welch, and all of my colleagues involved in our current NSF Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research field experiments in Europe. I’m also very grateful to George Coupland and Maarten Koornneef, and their wonderful departments at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding, for everything I learned during my recent sabbatical there.”

The National Academy of Sciences was established by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 as a scientific consulting resource for the federal government. It is a private organization of scientists and engineers interested in advancing science and developing its applications for the greater good. Members and associates specialize in one of 31 areas of science or engineering. NAS now has 2,041 active members and 397 foreign associates. Additional information is available at http://www.NASONLINE.org.