Seattle – May 1, 2015 – Nobel Laureate Linda Buck, Ph.D., researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has been elected to the Royal Society as a foreign member.
The Royal Society, the United Kingdom’s national academy of science, was founded in the 1660s to recognize, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity. It is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. Each year the society elects up to 52 new fellows and up to 10 new foreign members.
Buck was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2004, with Richard Axel, M.D. of Columbia University, for her pioneering studies on the sense of smell. They discovered that odor molecules are detected by hundreds of different odor receptor proteins in the nose and showed how signals from those receptors are organized in the nervous system to create diverse odor perceptions. Buck and her laboratory team at Fred Hutch continue to study the sense of smell, now focusing on neural pathways in the brain that govern scent-driven behaviors, such as fear and appetite.
Buck joined the faculty of Fred Hutch’s Basic Sciences Division in 2002. Prior to that, she was a full professor in the Neurobiology Department at Harvard Medical School.
In addition to being a Full Member of Fred Hutch, Buck is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and an Affiliate Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Washington. Buck is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Buck has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards in addition to the Nobel Prize, including the Unilever Science Award, the Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Medical Research, and the Gairdner Foundation International Award.
###
40 YEARS OF CURES 1975-2015
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. Fred Hutch’s pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer with minimal side effects. An independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, Fred Hutch houses the nation’s first and largest cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Women’s Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Private contributions are essential for enabling Fred Hutch scientists to explore novel research opportunities that lead to important medical breakthroughs. For more information visitwww.fredhutch.org or follow Fred Hutch on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
CONTACT
Michael Nank
206-667-2210
media@fredhutch.org