Dr. James Priess elected to National Academy of Sciences

Priess and his team uncovered how cells find their developmental fate in the microscopic worm known as Caenorhabditis elegans, which is commonly used in many studies of basic biology. This animal is much simpler than us, but there are parallels that can be drawn between worm and human, Priess said. Many of the genes his team has discovered over the years that act in C. elegans development also exist in humans. Specifically, he and his colleagues found new proteins involved in how cells talk to each other in early development that are also implicated in some types of Alzheimer’s disease.

But there are key differences too, differences that make the worm interesting and exciting as a subject of study, Priess said. Unlike humans, the animal is adapted for very rapid development, growing from an egg to an adult in just three days. And unlike many of our cells, the worms’ early embryonic cells are limited to a particular fate — the same cell in a developing embryo will always give rise to the same precise set of neurons in the adult, for example.

Of his many discoveries, Priess said he is most proud of uncovering how this programming works, a phenomenon that seems to be unique to simple creatures like the worm. He and his laboratory team found a series of molecules and mechanisms that lead to what he terms a “combinatorial code” of cell fates in the simple creature, combining aspects intrinsic to the cells themselves as well as interactions between the developing cells that push them toward specific fates in the adult animal.

Although one of the proteins involved in that process that Priess discovered is related to a human protein, humans don’t appear to use the same cell-intrinsic part of the process in our development, Priess said. That’s probably because our development is slower and our cells are not as constrained in their fates as those of the simple worm.

“Jim’s a phenomenon in the worm world,” said Dr. Jonathan Cooper, senior vice president and director of the Basic Sciences Division. “He's wowed us over the years with his penetrating experiments and encyclopedic knowledge of how a worm develops from egg to adult.”

Cooper described how his longtime colleague would draw on a blackboard from memory the timeline of how each cell divides and progresses in a developing worm embryo. The developmental biologist’s way of thinking about the growing 3-D structure of the microscopic worm in parallel with how the cells grow and change over time — the fourth dimension — was mind-boggling to him, Cooper said.

“Jim’s a true four-dimensional scientist,” Cooper said.

Several other Fred Hutch scientists have been elected to the NAS, most recently in 2015, when genetics and biology researcher Dr. Sue Biggins gained membership.

Priess, who was also an investigator of the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1994 to 2011, said he’s honored and humbled by the academy’s recognition.

“I’m honored for the recognition for me and several outstanding colleagues that have worked over the years in my lab,” he said. “I’m also indebted to the Hutch’s support.”