Seven faculty members at Washington University in St. Louis are among the 471 new fellows selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the most distinct honors in the scientific community.
AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. New Fellows will be celebrated June 7 at a forum in Washington, D.C.
The 2024 class from WashU includes:
Gaya K. Amarasinghe
Amarasinghe, the Alumni Endowed Professor of Pathology and Immunology and a professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics and of molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is being honored for distinguished contributions to the field of host-pathogen interactions.
Once they locate and invade their hosts, pathogens — which can be viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites — co-opt the host’s molecular machinery to reproduce, spreading throughout the body. Understanding the complexities of the interactions between host and pathogen, especially how invaders tamp down host immune responses, is central to combating infection and subsequent illness. Amarasinghe and his colleagues probe the molecular dynamics of host-pathogen interactions using biochemical and biophysical methods to model causative agents of a variety of diseases, including viruses such as Ebola virus and Rift Valley Fever virus as well as Staphylococcus aureus.
Amarasinghe joined WashU Medicine in 2011.
Yehuda Ben-Shahar
Ben-Shahar, a professor of biology in Art & Sciences and a professor of genetics and medicine at WashU Medicine, was recognized by AAAS for distinguished contributions to our understanding of the genetics, neurobiology and molecular biology of behavior. Ben-Shahar uses the power of genetics in the fruit fly, the honey bee and other insects to ask where, when and how the function of specific genes, cell types and neuronal circuits affect behavioral plasticity and the behavioral response to specific environmental and social stimuli.
In recent studies, Ben-Shahar showed that nestmate recognition cues in honey bee colonies develop in individuals via their association with the gut microbiome. His group also uncovered a mechanism that could provide a molecular path for the evolution of mating systems during rapid speciation.
Ben-Shahar received a faculty teaching award in neuroscience from WashU’s Division of Biology & Biomedical Sciences (DBBS) in 2022 and the outstanding faculty mentor award from the Graduate Student Senate in 2021.
Benjamin A. Garcia
Garcia, the Raymond H. Wittcoff Distinguished Professor and head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at WashU Medicine, is being honored for distinguished contributions to the field of mass spectrometry and how he has applied it to research of the epigenetic regulation of gene activity in cells.
The life of a cell is dictated by its DNA, the set of instructions at its core. Proteins, the molecules that are produced using this blueprint, are the elements responsible for the intricate functioning of the cell. Once assembled by cellular machinery that reads and translates DNA, proteins change shape, acquire functional features, get chemically modified and link up with molecular partners to play specific, necessary roles.
Garcia has been a leading figure in using quantitative mass spectrometry — a tool that can identify, quantify and analyze the sequence of proteins and other molecules — to explore multicellular organisms’ universe of proteins, called the proteome.
Garcia joined the faculty at WashU Medicine in 2021.
Young-Shin Jun
Jun, a professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering, runs the Environmental NanoChemistry Laboratory, which advances understanding of nanoscale interfacial chemistry and solid nucleation to tackle key challenges in energy and the environment. She focuses on three critical areas: CO2 chemical systems for clean energy; novel technologies to recover critical elements, nutrients and valuable salts from unconventional resources; and nanomaterials synthesis and nanotechnologies for improving water and soil quality.
Her groundbreaking research significantly enhances the resilience of our society’s climate, water and energy. In addition, she serves as WashU’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy ambassador to Seoul National University in South Korea.
Jun has received many honors, including a 2011 National Science Foundation CAREER award and a 2022 Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors’ Distinguished Service Award. She was named a 2015 Kavli Fellow by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and a 2019 Fellow of the American Chemical Society. She recently received a 2025 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering award from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Helen McNeill
McNeill, the Larry J. Shapiro and Carol-Ann Uetake-Shapiro Professor in the Department of Developmental Biology at WashU Medicine, is recognized for outstanding contributions to the field of developmental genetics, particularly tissue growth and alignment in the earliest stages of embryonic and organ development.
As multicellular organisms develop after the union of egg and sperm, cells divide and organize into tissues and organs, behaving in a coordinated fashion to perform the various functions necessary to sustain complex life. Developmental biologists have been studying these intricacies for decades, but several key questions remain.
McNeill’s research has solved several longstanding mysteries in developmental biology, mostly regarding how tissues, organs and embryos begin to form and function in the earliest stages of development. Her particular focus has been molecules called giant cadherins, which dictate how cells adhere to one another to form tissues and organs, and how they function in the Hippo pathway, a molecular signaling pathway that regulates cell proliferation, death and renewal.
Kathryn G. Miller
Miller, a professor emerita of biology in Arts & Sciences, was recognized by AAAS for her leadership in advancing undergraduate science education, particularly as president and a founding fellow of the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education (PULSE) organization. PULSE’s mission is to catalyze improvement in undergraduate life science education, working with college and university departments to promote alignment of programs with educational practices that improve student experience, inclusion and success.
Miller’s laboratory research focused on the structural proteins that mediate cellular organization and specialization of different cell types. She was appointed biology department chair in 2008 and served for 10 years in that position.
Miller was active in STEM education improvement efforts on campus, through many education-related grants and projects, including leading WashU’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute undergraduate education grants and nationally through PULSE and other undergraduate education improvement efforts. She was named a National Academy of Sciences Teaching Fellow and Teaching Mentor. Miller has remained active in PULSE since retiring.
Tim Schedl
Schedl, a professor of genetics and co-director of the Model Organisms Screening Center at WashU Medicine, has been elected an AAAS fellow for distinguished contributions to the field of genetics, particularly toward the understanding of germ cell fate and function and toward the training of junior scientists in human genetics.
Most animals pass along their genes by means of sexual reproduction. This means the union of gametes, egg and sperm, to form offspring that contain a species’ genetic legacy. Before that union, precursors called germ cells grow and develop into gametes. Schedl primarily uses the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, small transparent roundworms, and mice to elucidate fundamental processes involving germ cells
As a leader in graduate education within DBBS, Schedl has co-directed the division’s Molecular Genetics & Genomics Program and currently co-directs the Precision Medicine Pathway — training junior scientists in the uses of genetic and genomic information in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease.
