Two KU professors named as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Two Kansas University professors have been selected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Erik Lundquist, professor of molecular biosciences, and Ilya Vakser, professor of computational biology and molecular biosciences, are scheduled to be honored in February at the association’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Lundquist, director of the Genetics Program at KU, was recognized for distinguished contributions to understanding molecular mechanisms of nervous system development, according to a news release from KU.

Lundquist’s lab studies how the genome controls formation of the nervous system during development, according to KU. Specifically Lundquist uses a type of roundworm to study how neurons extend axons to make circuits and networks in the nervous system.

Vakser, director of the Center for Computational Biology at KU, was recognized for distinguished contributions to the field of computational structural biology, according to KU.

His lab focuses on the development of “molecular recognition methods for structural genomics and bioinformatics,” according to KU. Goals involve better understanding protein interactions to explain life processes at the molecular level.

The Department of Molecular Biosciences and the Center for Computational Biology are part of KU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.