Two faculty from the Department of Cell Biology have been awarded distinguished professorships by Duke University. Christopher Vincent Nicchitta, PhD, and Debra Lynn Silver, PhD, will be honored at the u niversity’s annual distinguished professorship event on May 18.
Distinguished professorships are awarded to faculty who have demonstrated extraordinary scholarship in advancing science and improving human health.
James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology
Christopher Vincent Nicchitta, PhD , is a professor of cell biology who also has appointments in the departments of pathology and biochemistry. He is leading molecular biologist whose research investigates how cells control the location and timing of protein synthesis, with a focus on mRNA localization — the process by which mRNAs are targeted to specific sites within the cell to direct protein production. This spatial and temporal regulation is essential for cell signaling, division, and overall cellular dynamics. His research on mRNA localization to the endoplasmic reticulum has reshaped our understanding of how cells spatially organize gene expression.
Duke School of Medicine Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience
Debra Lynn Silver, PhD , is a professor in cell biology with appointments in molecular genetics and microbiology and neurobiology. Her research program bridges developmental neurobiology, RNA biology, and evolution, focused on elucidating genetic and cellular mechanisms controlling cortical development and contributing to neurodevelopmental pathologies and brain evolution. She studies neural progenitors, essential cells which generate neurons and are the root of brain development. She is an internationally recognized geneticist and developmental neurobiologist whose work has significantly advanced our understanding of how the mammalian and human brain develops, and how these processes fail in congenital disorders such as microcephaly.
Read about all 22 faculty members in the School of Medicine who have been awarded distinguished professorships.