Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigators Joanne Chory and Thomas Steitz have been elected foreign members of the Fellowship of the Royal Society, the national academy of science of the United Kingdom, in recognition of their exceptional contributions to science. Carla J. Shatz, a member of the Janelia Farm Advisory Committee, was also selected.

Fellows are elected for contributions to fundamental research as well as for leading scientific and technological progress in industry and research establishments. This year, 44 fellows and eight foreign associates were chosen. “The Society aims to expand the frontiers of knowledge by championing the development and use of science, mathematics, engineering and medicine for the benefit of humanity and the good of the planet,” said Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society and an HHMI trustee. “It is the contribution of excellent individuals such as these which makes this possible.”

Chory, of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, was recognized for her pioneering analysis of plant responses to their environment using molecular genetics. Steitz, a Nobel Prize winner at Yale University, is known for his work into the processes of gene replication, transcription, control, and translation that are fundamental to all life. Shatz, a professor at Stanford University, was called out for providing fundamental insights into brain development.