Five world-renowned scientists are recipients of the inaugural Philip N. Benfey Arabidopsis Community Lifetime Achievement awards
Arabidopsis thaliana, a small, pervasive, yet seemingly nondescript weed that scientists adopted as their premier "lab rat", is the best-studied plant species on earth. Thousands of researchers across the world rely on Arabidopsis to study how plants grow and develop, photosynthesize, produce valuable nutrients, or withstand stress and pathogens. This foundational knowledge is essential for the development of new and improved crop varieties, innovations in forestry, plant conservation, and more. In 2023, the North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee (NAASC) established the Arabidopsis Community Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize Arabidopsis researchers whose careers made a major impact on plant sciences and scientists alike. The criteria for this honor include: distinguished research on Arabidopsis throughout a career spanning multiple decades; positive mentoring and impacts on their trainees and the success of their trainees in their own careers, and community service, outreach, public engagement, and/or innovative teaching.
NAASC named the inaugural award after Philip N. Benfey, a world-renowned Arabidopsis scientist and former NAASC member who unexpectedly passed away in 2023. Philip’s career exemplifies all aspects that the Lifetime Achievement award honors.
The five recipients will participate in the Philip N. Benfey Arabidopsis Community Lifetime Achievement Awardee Panel at the closing event of the International Conference on Arabidopsis Research on July 19th, 2024 in San Diego. In addition, the Conference will kick-off on July 15th with a special session organized by Benfey alumni entitled “A tribute to Philip Benfey: Networks facilitate the development of roots and scientists.”
Based on support letters written by colleagues and former or current mentees, the following five inspirational Arabidopsis Community leaders were selected for this prestigious honor:
Dr. Joanne Chory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Dr. Chory is most famous for her groundbreaking work on light perception and signaling, chloroplast-nucleus communication, brassinosteroid production and signaling, and auxin biosynthesis in Arabidopsis, as well as her more recent leadership role in in the “Harnessing Plants Initiative” that leverages plant genetics to combat climate change. Dr. Chory trained over 100 graduate students and postdocs, many of whom now successfully lead their own groups in academia and industry. She is an inspirational role model and has shown the world that it is possible to successfully combine doing great science with raising a beautiful family. (Image courtesy of Salk)
Dr. Jennifer Nemhaouser writes, "I loved being in Joanne’s lab, and am so excited to see her honored with this award. If I was to sum up Joanne’s mentoring style in three bullet points, they would be: 1) Don’t let your ego interfere with your science. Follow the data and find the mechanism; 2) Be brave. Try out lots of ideas, some of them kind of far-fetched; and 3) Surround yourself with people that love science, and remember not to take yourself too seriously. This is supposed to be fun!"
Dr. Jeff Dangl, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Dr. Dangl is a renowned expert on plant immunity and plant-microbe interactions and has pioneered the microbiome field in plants. He is a luminary and an exceptional mentor who is quoted to have said “when you invest in someone, you invest in them for life”. He co-runs his group with his wife and scientific partner, Dr. Sarah Grant, and together they have trained over 75 postdocs and graduate students in their lab, many of whom continue in plant sciences as independent investigators across the world. (Image courtesy of HHMI)
Dr. Jeff Chang notes that "the characteristics that set Jeff apart are his unmatched ability to digest, synthesize, and simplify information from diverse systems and his skills in communication, management, and mentorship". Dr. Terry Long adds "throughout my career Jeff has remained one of my closest mentors. I know that I can call upon him at any time and he will be there to provide wise council, in his blunt and up-front manner. His encouragement and mentorship have been a hugely influential, and I truly value his dedication to my career and that of many others, especially given his amazing scientific contributions, and his vision and leadership within the Arabidopsis community.”
Dr. Joe Ecker, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Dr. Ecker’s most impressive contributions to Arabidopsis research are in the area of ethylene signaling and community resource development including the generation of genetic and physical maps of the Arabidopsis genome, sequencing of Chromosome I, development of the largest T-DNA mutant collection, sequencing of full-length cDNAs, building of high-resolution methylome maps, implementation of the DAP-Seq technology to map transcription factor binding sites, generation of the Arabidopsis protein-protein interaction maps, and the sequencing of 1001 Arabidopsis genomes. Many of Dr. Ecker’s numerous past trainees are now group leaders in industry and academia across the globe. (Image courtesy of Salk.)
Reflecting on his experience of working in the Ecker lab, Dr. Ryan Lister states "I know many past trainees from his lab, and across the board we consider the time we had in his lab as the best period of our scientific careers. His unbridled enthusiasm, passion, drive, and innovation infects everyone with a can-do attitude to push the limits and try new things. He builds an unparalleled research environment, with excellent guidance, opportunities, training, resources, and provision of space to independently explore and experiment". Dr. Jose Alonso notes that "Dr. Ecker’s innovative and visionary approaches to plant biology research have permeated the Arabidopsis community worldwide not only through his many high-impact publications but also by passing along his high standards for plant research to his many US and international trainees."
Dr. Elliot Meyerowitz, California Institute of Technology
Dr. Meyerowitz’s illustrious accomplishments include pioneering the use of Arabidopsis for fundamental studies of plant development, cloning the first Arabidopsis gene, formulating the ABC model of floral organ identity, elucidating how the stem cells in the shoot apical meristem are both maintained and give rise to the spiral pattern of leaves and flowers, and promoting the use of computational modeling together with experimentation. Dr. Meyerowitz has trained more than 75 postdocs and graduate students, many of whom have gone on to lead their own groups all over the world. (Image courtesy of HHMI)
Dr. John Bowman ascribes Dr. Meyerowitz’s “success in fostering scientific offspring . . . to his mentoring style where he provided ample freedom to pursue research avenues and encouraging independent thought — and yet was unselfish with his time to provide a thoughtful answer, or sage advice.” Dr. Caren Chang reflected that “Elliot provides exceptional insights and guidance, and is always available to discuss science. He is unfailingly positive, honest, and fair. He treats us as colleagues, never as underlings. He supports us in pursuing our interests… notably, his office door was always open. His office was the hub where lab members were welcome to hang out at all hours. There was a couch, chairs, coffee, and a coffee table piled high with journals. Elliot installed a desktop computer for the lab to use next to his own desk, so when we worked on the lab computer, we sat two feet away from him.”
Dr. Chris Somerville, University of California, Berkeley (emeritus) and Open Philanthropy LLC
Dr. Somerville has made major discoveries in cell wall composition and structure, mechanisms of photosynthesis, lipid metabolism, and bioenergy. In a fabled trip to Paris, Dr. Chris Somerville and his wife Dr. Shauna Somerville settled on Arabidopsis as a model plant for molecular genetics. Dr. Chris Somerville brought people together around Arabidopsis, helping coordinate the Arabidopsis Genome Initiative to sequence the first plant genome, setting up The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) genome database, convincing funders of the value of Arabidopsis research, and founding Mendel Biotechnology. Dr. Chris Somerville trained more than 75 students and postdocs, many of whom took their projects with them to found Arabidopsis research labs. (Image credit: IGB)
Dr. Dominique Bergmann describes, "From the vantage point of one of Chris’s postdoc, Chris struck me as someone who absolutely loved science, and absolutely loved doing it efficiently and effectively. He was a great delegator—he’d teach you to do something (in my case, how to plant Arabidopsis and how to pare a paper’s narrative down to the essentials) or give you the tools to learn it from another source, then assess whether you had mastered a skill. If he thought you had, he trusted you from that time forward."
