Peter N. Devreotes is an American scientist and the Isaac Morris & Lucille Elizabeth Hay Professor and former director of the department of

cell biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...

, with joint appointments in the Center for Cell Dynamics and department of biological chemistry at the

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a Private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established in 1893 following the construction of the Johns Ho ...

. He also serves on the scientific advisory board of the Allen Institute for Cell Science. He is best known for his contribution in the field of eukaryotic chemotaxis,

signal transduction Signal transduction is the process by which a chemical or physical signal is transmitted through a cell as a biochemical cascade, series of molecular events. Proteins responsible for detecting stimuli are generally termed receptor (biology), rece ...

, and phosphoinositides biology.

Education and career

Devreotes received his Bachelor of Science degree in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

in 1971. He next earned his PhD degree in

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...

from the

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in 1977, where he worked in the laboratory of Dr Douglas Fambrough. He then carried his post-doctoral research in Dr Theodore Steck laboratory at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. Devreotes started his independent career as an assistant professor at the department of biological chemistry]in the

in 1980. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

and then to professor. He served as the director of the biochemistry and molecular biology graduate program from 1990 to 2000. Then he was appointed as the director of the department of cell biology of the

in 2000. As an internationally recognized leader in

cell migration Cell migration is a central process in the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms. Tissue formation during embryogenesis, embryonic development, wound healing and immune system, immune responses all require the orchestrated movemen ...

, Devreotes was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

. He was elected and served as a council member of

American Society for Cell Biology The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society that was founded in 1960. He served in the advisory of the

Searle Scholars Program The Searle Scholars Program is a career development award made annually to support 15 young faculty in biomedical research and chemistry at US universities and research centers. The goal of the award is to support to exceptional young scientists wh ...

. Devreotes founded Gordon Research Conference on "Gradient Sensing and Directed Cell Migration" in 2005. He currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Allen Institute for Cell Science. Devreotes trained more than 75 doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows, many of whom have received senior and distinguished positions in major research institutes (such as

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Perelman School of Medicine The Perelman School of Medicine (commonly known as Penn Med) is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private, Ivy League research university located in Philadelphia. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the olde ...

, Beatson institute, UTSW,

Weill Cornell Medicine Weill Cornell Medicine (; officially Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University), originally Cornell University Medical College, is the medical school of Cornell University, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in Ne ...

, NIAID ) and in different industry. He authored more than 300 scholastic publications including research articles, reviews, book chapters. As of June 2023, he has an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

of 94 on

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of Academic publishing, scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in Beta release, beta in November 2004, th ...

Research

Devreotes is an internationally recognized leader in the field of chemotaxis and signal transduction. Devreotes was the first to identify the chemoattractant receptors and to demonstrate that multiple signalling events are activated asymmetrically at the cells leading edge which led to an understanding of the sophisticated strategies that cells use to precisely sense direction. Subsequent research in Devreotes lab helped to uncover the GPCR kinetics and phosphoinositides biology of the polarity organization in migrating ''Dictyostelium'' and

leukocyte White blood cells (scientific name leukocytes), also called immune cells or immunocytes, are cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign entities. White blood cells are genera ...

cells. Inside the scientific community, he is widely credited for bringing system-level understanding and implementing computational analysis of

dynamical system In mathematics, a dynamical system is a system in which a Function (mathematics), function describes the time dependence of a Point (geometry), point in an ambient space, such as in a parametric curve. Examples include the mathematical models ...

s in different cell physiological processes. His recent works focus on the understanding the dynamics of internal feedback loops in signal transduction and

cytoskeletal The cytoskeleton is a complex, dynamic network of interlinking protein filaments present in the cytoplasm of all Cell (biology), cells, including those of bacteria and archaea. In eukaryotes, it extends from the cell nucleus to the cell membrane ...

networks that confer the biochemical excitability to the membrane and thus control different morphological and functional properties of the cell.

Awards and honours

Devreotes received several major awards and honors for his contribution to the cell biology and systems biology: * 2005: Devreotes was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. * 2005: Devreotes received National Institutes of Health MERIT Award. * 2009: Devreotes was awarded Isaac Morris & Lucille Elizabeth Hay Professorship in Embryology at the

. * 2016: Devreotes was elected as one of the Inaugural Lifetime fellow of

American Society for Cell Biology The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society that was founded in 1960. * 2019: Devreotes was awarded E.B. Wilson Medal, the ''highest honor'' of

American Society for Cell Biology The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society that was founded in 1960.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devreotes, Peter N. American cell biologists University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Society for Cell Biology Year of birth missing (living people) Living people