Martin F. Yanofsky

Dr. Martin F. Yanofsky is the Paul D. Saltman Chair in Science Education and a Distinguished Professor at University of California, San Diego. Yanofsky studies the genes that control flower and fruit development in the model plant system of Arabidopsis thaliana. His lasting contribution to science is his elegant description of the role of the MADS box gene family in flowering plants. Over the past two decades his lab has isolated many of the major regulatory genes that are required not only for the initiation of flowers but also for the development of the four types of flower organs: sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels. In recent years his group has turned their attention to the fruit, where they have again used molecular and genetic approaches to identify and characterize important fruit development genes, including SHATTERPROOF, INDEHISCENT, and FRUITFUL, leading to a model that explains the genetic interactions that determine fruit structure. Yanofsky’s basic scientific research into fruit development has resulted in new technologies that have recently been applied to agriculturally important oilseed crops to increase overall seed yields. With 35 invention disclosures at UC San Diego’s Technology Transfer Office and 22 patents to his credit, Yanofsky has an impressive patent portfolio. He is the recipient of widespread recognition for his research accomplishments, including a David and Lucile Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, and membership in the National Academy of Sciences in addition to his American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership. Yanofsky’s publications appear in journals such as Cell, Nature, and Science.