ASPB Members and Plant Biologists Elected to National Academy of Sciences

ASPB members Philip N. Benfey and Jian-Kang Zhu were elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on April 27, 2010, at the Academy’s 147th annual meeting. In addition, ASPB member Eva Kondorosi and prominent plant biologist Paul Schulze-Lefert were named as foreign associates of the academy. All four nominees were selected individually for distinguished work and original research in plant biology.

ASPB Members

Philip Benfey

Philip N. Benfey

Philip N. Benfey is the Paul Kramer Professor in the Department of Biology and director of the Center for Systems Biology at Duke University. He completed graduate studies with Lasker Award winner Philip Leder and received his PhD from Harvard in cell and developmental biology in 1986. Philip earned his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Paris VI in 1981.

Philip said, “I was surprised, humbled, and honored to receive the call [informing me of my election]. I owe most of this honor to the outstanding collaborators I have had the pleasure to work with over the years: graduate students, postdocs, and colleagues.”

The Benfey Lab applies genetics, molecular biology, and genomics to identify and characterize the genes that regulate formation of the root in the plant model system Arabidopsis thaliana. Recently, Philip’s program used screens for mutants with roots that had altered cell division potential to help describe how cells in the root divide and acquire their identities. Characterization of these mutants revealed alterations in cell division and cell identity leading to dramatic changes in the radial pattern of the root. Philip and his team have isolated the genes mutated in these lines and found that several of them encode transcriptional regulators. They defined the SHORT-ROOT/SCARECROW pathway, which has been shown to play a central role in radial patterning as well as in specifying the stem cell niche known as the quiescent center.

Philip applies systems biology to identify the transcriptional networks responsible for specifying all the cells in the root. His team developed a method that combines cell sorting with microarray analysis to generate the global expression pattern for every cell type in the root. This dataset was used to help identify all transcription factors that are expressed in a tissue-specific pattern. In collaboration with members of the systems biology group at Duke, Philip’s team is developing computational approaches to model the related transcriptional networks.

Philip’s work has been published widely, including papers in The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology. His complete list of publications can be found on Duke University's website. Philip was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2004.

Jian-Kang Zhu

Jian-Kang Zhu

Jian-Kang Zhu is a professor at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), where he holds the Jane S. Johnson Endowed Chair in Plant Sciences and the Presidential Chair and is director of the joint Chinese Agricultural University–UCR Center of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology. Jian-Kang is formerly of the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona. He earned his PhD in plant physiology at Purdue University in 1993 after receiving an MS in botany in 1990 from UCR. Jian-Kang attended the Beijing Agricultural University where he earned a BS in soils and agricultural chemistry in 1987.

To describe his reaction to the nomination Jian-Kang said, “I could not believe it when Brian Larkins called me early in the morning on April 27 and told me that I was just elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Even after several weeks, it still feels dreamlike. I have been very fortunate in having great mentors throughout my career. I am particularly grateful to my MS adviser, Gene Nothnagel; PhD advisers Mike Hasegawa and Ray Bressan; and Rob Leonard and Brian Larkins, colleagues at the University of Arizona, for their mentoring and support over the years.”

Jian-Kang’s lab focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying plant responses to harsh environments such as soil salinity, drought, and cold temperatures. In addition, they look at the mechanisms of transcriptional gene silencing and the role of epigenetic gene regulation in stress adaptation. Jian-Kang’s team uses genetic, biochemical, genomic, and proteomic approaches to analyze various levels of gene regulation (chromatin level/epigenetic, transcriptional, posttranscriptional, and protein activity) and to understand stress signaling and stress tolerance. The lab aims to clarify the signaling pathways used by plants in responding to environmental stresses and to identify key genes for modifying the responses of crops to environmental stresses, which ultimately will lead to major contributions to agriculture and the environment.

Jian-Kang has been recognized for his work many times, including the ASPB Charles Albert Shull Award (2003), 2002 Researcher of the Year in the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences at the University of Arizona, and a Life Sciences Research Foundation Fellow (1994). Among his extensive publications are many articles in both The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology.

Foreign Associates

The National Academy of Sciences’ foreign associates are nonvoting members with citizenship outside the United States. It is worth noting that the two 2010 foreign associates featured here have maintained long associations with ASPB, including extensive publications in The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology.

Eva Kondorosi

Eva Kondorosi

ASPB member Eva Kondorosi is a professor at the Institute of Plant Sciences (CNRS) in France. She also is the founder and director of the Institute for Plant Genomics, Human Biotechnology, and Bioenergy (IPGHBB) in Szeged, Hungary.

Eva commented, “It was a great and perhaps the most pleasant surprise in my life when Sharon Long phoned me the evening of April 27 with the news that I had been elected to NAS as a foreign associate. I was speechless for seconds; I did not dream about such an honor. I am grateful to my nominators: Sharon Long, Bob Haselkorn, Fred Ausubel, and Jeff Dangl, who recognized our work and supported my election. A few days later, I became a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

“That was a great week. My election reflects also the outstanding contribution of my colleagues in Hungary and France. I share this honor foremost with my husband, Adam Kondorosi, a pioneer in Rhizobium genetics who introduced me to Rhizobium–legume research and was my most critical and most stimulating scientific partner. I am very proud that I worked with Jeff Schell, one of the most prominent plant scientists, who generously supported our work when the resources for research were greatly limited in Hungary. I am grateful to the constant support of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the National Office for Research and Technology. I particularly thank my colleagues in the Institut des Sciences du Végétal in France and in the Biological Research Center and the Baygen Institute in Hungary.”

Paul Schulze-Lefert

Paul Schulze-Lefert

Paul Schulze-Lefert is the director of the Department of Plant Microbe Interactions at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Koln, Germany. Paul earned his PhD after being trained in biochemistry and genetics at Marburg, Freiburg, and Cologne Universities in Germany.

The Max Planck Institute houses four departments dedicated to plant research. Paul’s department studies plant defense mechanisms against disease. His laboratory studies plant–microbe ecogenetics, non-self perception and signaling by intracellular immune sensors, MAMP-triggered immunity, and secretory pathways in immune responses.

Paul is a member of the science advisory board of the Two Blades Foundation and is an elected member of the European Molecular Board Organization. He reviews for many journals including The Plant Cell, Plant Physiology, The Plant Journal, Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Cell, The Journal of Cell Biology, Molecular Genetics & Genomics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), Nature, and EMBO Journal. Paul also serves as a reviewer for scientific organizations in Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Finland.

Paul said, “It’s been a big surprise and a real honor because I have been working all my life in Europe. However, I immensely enjoyed past and ongoing collaborations with U.S. research groups, and these have been instrumental in revealing the functioning of the plant immune system. Among the U.S. scientists that have influenced my own thinking are Jeff Dangl, Brian Staskawicz, Xinnian Dong, Shauna Somerville, and Fred Ausubel. My membership is also an opportunity to increase public awareness that plants are wonderful experimental organisms.”

The National Academy of Sciences is a private honorific society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific research. Established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation signed by Abraham Lincoln, the academy acts as an official adviser to the federal government through its operating arm, the National Research Council, administered with its sister organizations, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine. Additional information about the academy and its members is available online.