Professor Steve Oliver, Director of the Cambridge Systems Biology Centre and member of the Department of Biochemistry, has today been awarded the distinction of being made a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

This prestigious honour, bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers, recognises Professor Oliver’s groundbreaking work exploring the inner workings of the cell.

Professor Oliver is one of 486 members to be awarded this honour because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

His work with the brewing and baking yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is exploring how the 6,000 genes in its genome interact and by what methods this determines how these simple cells grow, divide, develop and respond to the world around them.

This research could one day provide a navigational aid to guide studies of more complex genomes, such as those of humans, crop plants and farm animals.

During his career Professor Oliver has led a number of major national and European research consortia, and is an advisor to scientific foundations in Brazil, Canada, Finland, and Ireland. Steve’s research has been recognised by awards and prizes from the Institute of Biology, the Society for General Microbiology, and the Biochemical Society, as well as by nomination for a World Technology Award.

Commenting on his award Professor Oliver said: “It is very pleasing to receive this accolade from a major US learned society. It recognises all of the hard work of my students and post-docs and what they have been able to achieve in unravelling how a simple cell, much like our own, works.”

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Members are considered for the rank of Fellow if they are nominated by one of the steering groups of the Association’s 24 sections, by any three fellows who are current AAAS members or by the AAAS chief executive officer.

Each steering group then reviews the nominations within its respective section and a final list is forwarded to the AAAS Council, which votes on the aggregate list.

New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Saturday 14 February during the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Professor Oliver has this week accepted a Professorial Fellow position at Wolfson College.

 

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