Martin Chalfie

Professor Chalfie was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the introduction of green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a biological marker. GFP has become one of the essential research tools in the biological and biomedical sciences. Research in his laboratory is centered around nerve cell development and function. His studies include work on neuronal degeneration, microtubule structure and function, neuronal outgrowth, the genetic control and maintenance of neuronal cell fate, and mechanosensory transduction and its modulation.

Dr. Chalfie is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of the Royal Society. He is a past president of the Society for Developmental Biology and current president of the American Society for Cell Biology. He also chairs the Committee on Human Rights of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.