Hermann Steller (born 25 April 1957) is the head of the Strang Laboratory of Apoptosis and Cancer Biology at

The Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...

, and a

Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellowship of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (FAAAS) is an honor accorded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to distinguished persons who are members of the Association. Fellows are elected ...

. Steller pioneered the use of Drosophila as a genetic model for cell death research. He described and characterized the first cell death genes in the fly, Reaper and Hid, and the first ''

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species ...

'' caspase.

Education

Steller earned his Diplom in microbiology from

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

, and his Ph.D. from the

European Molecular Biology Laboratory The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to molecular biology research and is supported by 27 member states, two prospect states, and one associate member state. EMBL was created in 1974 and ...

and the University of Heidelberg in 1984.

Career

After post graduate work at The University of California, Berkeley, Steller became a professor of neurobiology at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

before becoming head of lab at The Rockefeller University. Steller was also a

Howard Hughes Medical Investigator The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, f ...

from 1990-2016 Steller's laboratory studies the regulation of apoptosis, how defects in this process contribute to diseases, and how insights into apoptotic pathways can be exploited for the design of new therapies.

Award and honors

*1988 Searle Scholar Award, Chicago Community Trust https://www.searlescholars.net/people/hermann-steller *1989 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences *1990-2016, HHMI Investigator * 2006 Jonathan Magnes Award Hebrew University * 2001 Lady Davis Award, Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Israel * American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellowship * 2016 International Cell Death Society Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steller, Hermann Rockefeller University faculty Heidelberg University alumni 1957 births Living people Howard Hughes Medical Investigators