VICC Member Daniel Liebler Elected AAAS Fellow

Four Vanderbilt faculty members – Daniel Liebler, Charles Sanders, Gary Sulikowski and Michael Waterman – have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed upon them by their peers.

They are among 486 scientists from around the country who have been elevated to this rank because of their efforts to advance science or its applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished. New fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Daniel Liebler, director of the Jim Ayers Institute for Pre-Cancer Detection and Diagnosis, was cited for “distinguished contributions to the development of proteomics and applications to mechanistic toxicology.” Liebler, who is a professor of biochemistry, pharmacology and biomedical informatics, focuses on how environmental factors such as chemicals and drugs interact with cellular proteomes (the full protein content of cells) to affect health and disease. His group is developing and applying new proteomics methods to detect and analyze protein modifications and to identify protein targets of reactive chemicals. Using these technologies, Liebler and colleagues also are defining biomarkers for the detection of pre-cancerous lesions.

Founded in 1848, the AAAS is the world’s largest federation of scientists and includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies, serving 10 million individuals. The association works to advance science for human well-being through its projects, programs and publications. It conducts many programs in the areas of science policy, science education and international scientific cooperation.

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