The National Academy of Sciences of the USA has elected Steve
West, Group leader at the Crick's Clare Hall Laboratories, as a
Foreign Associate for his contributions to the fields of DNA
recombination and repair.
Steve's lab has been based at Clare Hall since 1985 and his
research is focused on understanding the mechanisms by which DNA
breaks are repaired by recombination, and how these processes
contribute to the maintenance of genome stability and tumour
avoidance.
When he was informed of the news, Steve said: "Being elected to
the National Academy of Sciences is one of the greatest honours of
my career: only in my wildest dreams did I think of achieving such
international recognition. This is also a tribute to the
dedication, commitment and superb work carried out by my post-docs
and students over the past 30 years."
Paul Nurse, Director of the Francis Crick Institute, said:
"Congratulations to Steve on his election to the US-based National
Academy of Sciences as a Foreign Associate, a highly distinguished
honour. Steve is a world leader in the fields of genetic
recombination and DNA repair and this accolade recognises his very
major achievements in these areas."
Steve conducted his post-doctoral research with Paul
Howard-Flanders in the Department of Molecular Biophysics and
Biochemistry at Yale University after studying biochemistry at
Newcastle University. On his return to the UK in 1985 he set up a
research group at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's Clare Hall
Laboratories (which became the Cancer Research UK London Research
Institute in 2002 and the Francis Crick Institute in 2015).
In his career, Steve has received numerous awards for his work
including election to the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical
Sciences, and the European Academy of Cancer Sciences. He was
awarded the Genetics Medal in 2012 and the prestigious
Louis-Jeantet Prize in 2007.
This year the National Academy elected 84 American scientists
and 21 Foreign Associates from 14 different countries in
recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in
research. Names were released on 3 May 2016.
Election to the National Academy is a rare event for scientists
in the UK, and his election to the NAS is a wonderful recognition
for his work at Cancer Research UK and the Francis Crick
Institute.