News Release

AAAS and Brandeis University announce 2005 Fellows

Two biomedical researchers are newest Fellows

Grant and Award Announcement

Brandeis University

Waltham, MA - Researchers Dagmar Ringe and James Haber are Brandeis University's newest Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), following in the footsteps of 11 faculty members who have been previously elected to the honor. Fellows are elected because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

This year, AAAS is honoring 376 members as Fellows. Ringe, professor of biochemistry and chemistry, is being honored for her pioneering work in structural enzymology, especially the role of protein dynamics in catalysis and the development of novel methods to map protein binding sites. Haber, a professor of biology, has been elected a Fellow because of his fundamental discoveries in the fields of DNA recombination and mating-type switching.

"I'm delighted to be honored by AAAS," noted Haber, whose lab researches how recombination occurs at the molecular level in yeast and the roles of the many proteins involved in DNA recombination, repair and replication.

Ringe echoed Haber's sentiment about the honor: "I'm am thrilled to be elected to the AAAS." Ringe's research involves using pharmaceutically or industrially important enzymes to study the relationship between the three-dimensional structure of proteins and their chemical functions. In addition, she is working on developing methods to determine function computationally for proteins whose functions are unknown. Both researchers are deeply involved in biomedical research that has broad implications for human health and our understanding of disease.

New fellows will be presented with an official certificate and gold and blue rosette pin on Saturday, February 18 at the Fellows Forum during the 2006 AAAS Annual Meeting in St. Louis, MO.

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society.

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