Recognition by peers for "meritorious efforts" to advance science.
Sheila McCormick and Anastasios Melis are being honored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Both McCormick and Melis are professors at the Department of Plant & Microbial Biology. They will be inducted at the New Fellows Induction Ceremony in February.
The AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.
Sheila McCormick
Adjunct Professor McCormick is being honored for "Distinguished contributions in the area of plant reproductive sciences, particularly for elucidating biological processes in pollen that lead to reproductive success."
The McCormick Lab studies plant reproduction using biochemistry, cell biology, genetics and molecular biology, in three projects:
- Pollen tube growth: the lab characterizes signal transduction pathways mediated through pollen-specific receptor kinases.
- Pollen development and function: the lab characterizes mutations that affect transmission through the male parent.
- Gamete biology: the lab characterizes sperm, egg, or embryo sac-expressed genes that may play roles in pollen tube guidance, gamete recognition or fusion.
McCormick is a Principal Investigator at the Plant Gene Expression Center in Albany, Ca. The Center is a collaboration of the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Plant & Microbial Biology.
Anastasios Melis
Professor Melis is being honored for "Pioneering contributions to our understanding of photosynthetic hydrogen evolution and for opening the field of photosynthetic production of biofuels." Melis is in the Department of Plant & Microbial Biology and also is affiliated with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as Faculty Biologist.
Melis and his team study the photosynthesis of plants, microalgae, cyanobacteria, and photosynthetic bacteria. Approaches include biophysics and biochemistry of the process, molecular biology and genetics of the organisms, and scale ups for product generation.
Applied aspects include diverting the flow of photosynthesis to generate fuels and chemicals instead of the normally produced sugars. Products of interest are biofuels (hydrogen, hydrocarbons), feedstock for the synthetic chemistry industry and neutraceuticals. Trademark of the Melis Lab is product generation directly from photosynthesis, bypassing the need to harvest and process the respective biomass.