Two faculty members from Washington University in St. Louis are among almost 250 recently elected associates of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the country’s most esteemed honorary organizations. They include physicist Carl Bender from Arts & Sciences and immunologist Marco Colonna from the School of Medicine.
Established in 1780, this academy recognizes extraordinary scholars, leaders, creators, and innovators, involving them in disseminating knowledge and tackling global challenges. The members for 2025 were announced on April 23.
Carl Bender
Bender, PhD, is the Konneker Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. He became part of the faculty in 1977.
Bender’s academic specializations include mathematical physics and applied mathematics. He possesses significant expertise in asymptotic analysis, differential equations, and perturbative techniques, employing them to address issues in theoretical physics.
Bender is recognized for founding the expansive and dynamic field of PT quantum theory. In acknowledgment of his contributions, he received the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics in 2017, an accolade awarded jointly by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics.
Bender has co-authored two highly regarded textbooks, “Advanced Mathematical Methods for Scientists and Engineers” and “PT Symmetry in Quantum and Classical Physics.” Additionally, he has acted as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical.
As a fellow of the American Physical Society, the UK Institute of Physics, and the Academy of Science of St. Louis, Bender has also been awarded the Fulbright, Sloan, Guggenheim von Humboldt, and Lady Davis fellowships, along with the Ulam Scholar award at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Marco Colonna
Colonna, MD, the Robert Rock Belliveau, MD, Professor of Pathology at WashU Medicine, has achieved global acclaim for his research on the functions of immune cells and their receptors in neurodegenerative disorders, cancers, and autoimmune conditions.
Significantly, Colonna established the connection between a gene named TREM2 and Alzheimer’s disease. Individuals with certain variants in TREM2 exhibit a greater likelihood of developing the neurodegenerative condition. Colonna discovered that in the absence of TREM2, microglia—immune cells located in the brain—are unable to manage the spread of amyloid beta plaques, a sticky brain protein linked to the disease. He and his team found that activating microglia, which function as a cleanup crew, assists in eliminating these harmful plaques.
Colonna has also explored TREM2 in relation to cancer, demonstrating that a common immunotherapy drug’s efficacy can be improved by inhibiting the protein, leading to tumor eradication. Most recently, his findings in mice highlighted the crucial role of a small group of immune cells in the intestines in preventing food allergies.
Colonna is part of the executive leadership at WashU Medicine’s Brain Immunology & Glia Center.
The article Two named to American Academy of Arts & Sciences was first published on The Source.