University biology professor Eric Selker has been selected as one of 212 newly elected members comprising the 2011 class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
With his induction on Oct. 1, Selker will become part of one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies, and he will help lead its independent policy research in Cambridge, Mass., according to a University Media Relations press release. The instructor and researcher is currently a member of the Institute of Molecular Biology — a University-based interdisciplinary research community founded in 1959 and chaired by scientists from the Departments of biology, chemistry and physics.
Academy members advance the study of science and technology policy, global security and social policy within American institutions.
The incoming biologist joined University faculty in 1985 after earning his doctorate from Stanford University in 1981, and he has committed his career to the study of genomic functions. More recently, Selker has centered his experimentation on gene silencing and the mechanisms involved in DNA methylation — the biological process of replacing atoms with groups of hydrocarbons. This process is essential for normal cell growth, and abnormal methylation has been linked to cellular mutation and cancer progression.
Joining Selker in the 2011 AAAS class are scholars, writers, scientists, artists and civic, corporate and philanthropic leaders, among whom are Guggenheim fellows, Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy award recipients, and Nobel, Pulitzer and Pritzker prize winners.
The Academy was founded in 1780 by an assembly of scholars and patriots including John Adams, James Bowdoin and John Hancock, and boasts notable members such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Daniel Webster, Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill.
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