UNC Lineberger’s Stanley M. Lemon, MD, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and one of the highest honors awarded to a scientist.
Lemon, a professor of medicine in infectious diseases and microbiology and immunology and a member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the UNC School Medicine, is recognized widely for his research of the mechanisms by which hepatotropic positive-strand RNA viruses replicate in the liver and cause diseases ranging from acute inflammatory hepatitis to cancer.
His team discovered that hepatitis A virus both escapes from cells and evades neutralizing antibodies by cloaking itself in host membranes hijacked via interactions of the virus with endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT)-associated proteins, a novel immune escape mechanism. More recently, his lab discovered how cellular protein and enzymes interact to allow hepatitis A virus to replicate, resulting in identification of an antiviral drug capable of reversing infectious hepatitis in an animal model.
The National Academy of Sciences was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and — with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine — provides science, engineering and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations. Current membership totals approximately 2,400 members and 500 international members, of which approximately 190 have received Nobel prizes.