Newswise — Peter Devreotes, the Isaac Morris and Lucille Elizabeth Hay Professor of Cell Biology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, has been selected as the winner of the American Society for Cell Biology’s (ASCB) E.B Wilson Medal for 2019. The award is the scientific society’s highest honor is named for Edmund Beecher Wilson, American zoologist and geneticist who authored the well-known 20th Century textbook, The Cell. Devreotes will present the 2019 E.B Wilson lecture "Excitable Networks In Directed Cell Migration" on Tuesday, December 10 at 3:15pm during the 2019 ASCB|EMBO Meeting in Washington, DC.
Devreotes studies chemotaxis—how cells move in response to extracellular cues and attractants. In a way, chemotaxis mirrors Devreotes’ personal journey toward cell biology.
“In early grade school, my father, who was a mechanical engineer, would teach me math at home. So initially I was inspired by him. I still have his slide rules and drafting equipment,” Devreotes said. “Through high school and college, I was amazed at the discoveries of great physicists—early and modern. I am still impressed by the work of early electrophysiologists who brought rigorous theory to biological processes like membrane potential. I am also impressed by transformative breakthroughs such as green fluorescent protein (GFP) or single-molecule imaging in cell biology.”
Devreotes earned his BS in physics in 1971 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and then earned his PhD in biophysics in 1977 from Johns Hopkins University. After a Damon Runyon Fellowship at the University of Chicago, Devreotes returned to Johns Hopkins to join the faculty in 1980. He’s been the director of the Department of Cell Biology since 2000.
“When I look back it seems like I was on a predetermined course from physics through biophysics and biochemistry to cell biology,” said Devreotes. “Really, at each point, I just switched to what seemed like the most exciting area. Right now, I think there is a great deal to learn about the behavior of molecular networks in cells. Discoveries in this area of cell biology will transform medicine.”
Nominated by several of his peers and colleagues, Devreotes’ scientific legacy thus far is telling the story of chemotaxis. Douglas Robinson, also a professor of cell biology at Johns Hopkins, wrote in his nomination letter, “Peter is incredibly deserving of this award as he has made several seminal discoveries in directed cell migration, has been a leader in bringing systems-level analysis to cell biology, and has been an active member of ASCB for many years.”
Robinson explained how Devreotes’ “attention to the dynamic interplay between the variety of cellular systems using clever experimental design and computational approaches sets chemotaxis on a higher plane of elegant understanding that researchers of other cellular processes aspire to.”
Devreotes said he thinks the behavior of molecular networks will be among the most important questions for future cell biologists because they could reveal potential therapies.
“Cellular networks have internal feedback loops that confer excitable properties. I have had a fantastic time working with my friend control engineer Pablo Iglesias (also at Johns Hopkins), whose group brings computational simulation as a tool for understanding network behavior. I think that excitability controls many of the spontaneous behaviors that cells display,” he said. “Gene profiles and external cues influence behavior by altering these excitable properties. Currently, therapies target specific molecules, but in reality, these are altering network behavior. With a better understanding of networks, better interventions or combinations of interventions will be available.”
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