Durham, N.C. - Two of the most prestigious national associations in science and medicine have honored five Duke faculty members this week.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has elected Duke anthropologist William Hylander, Huntington Willard, director of the Institute for Genomic Sciences and Policy, and Thomas Petes, chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, as fellows, while the Institute of Medicine has elected Nobel laureate Peter Agre and James O. McNamara, M.D., chair of the Department of Neurobiology, as members.

The institute cited Agre's work on how water moves in and out of cells and McNamara for his research revealing how epilepsy develops.

Agre, vice chancellor of science and technology and professor of cell biology, and McNamara, Carl R. Deane Professor, were among 64 people named to membership in the institute Monday morning. Thirty-four faculty members from Duke's School of Medicine and School of Nursing are among the institute's 1,461 active members.

Agre joined Duke earlier this year after 24 years on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University. In 2003, he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for revealing the molecular basis for the movement of water into and out of cells. More than a decade earlier, Agre and Johns Hopkins physiologist Bill Guggino, Ph.D., reported the discovery of the first water-channel protein “ called an aquaporin “ which facilitates the movement of water molecules into and out of cells through the cell membrane. Since then, Agre and his colleagues have found aquaporins to be part of the blood-brain barrier and also to be associated with water transport in skeletal muscle, lung and kidney. Researchers now study aquaporins and have linked aberrant water transport to many human disorders.

McNamara joined Duke's faculty in 1973, and in 2002 was appointed chair of the Department of Neurobiology. He also served as director of the Epilepsy Center of the Durham VA Medical Center, and he founded the Duke Center for Advanced Study of Epilepsy.

McNamara's research concentrates on mechanisms of "epileptogenesis" ” the process by which a normal brain becomes epileptic. He analyzes animal models of epileptogenesis to understand the genetic and molecular determinants by which epilepsy develops.

These insights could provide new targets for drugs that could prevent epilepsy in individuals at high risk. He has also demonstrated that an auto-immune mechanism contributes to development of a rare form of human epilepsy, Rasmussen's encephalitis.

The AAAS elevated 376 members to the level of fellow this year.

AAAS cited Hylander for his contributions to research on primate skeletal morphology through biomechanical and experimental analysis.

His research includes measuring the stress-loading patterns of the human mandible during chewing and studies to understand loading patterns of the primate face. Such loading patterns offer clues to the evolution and function of the face in higher primates.

A long-time Duke faculty member, he came to the university in 1971 as an associate in the department of anatomy, becoming an assistant professor in 1972, associate professor in 1974 and professor in 1981.

The association praised Willard for his work on identifying functional elements in the human centromere that led to the construction of the first human artificial chromosomes.

Willard came to Duke in 2002 to lead the Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. In addition to continuing his research on the X sex chromosome, Willard has guided the institute in developing research in genome science and its applications across a broad spectrum of ethical, legal and policy issues.

Petes, who came to Duke in 2004, was honored for his contributions to many areas related to genome stability, using baker's yeast as a model. For example, his research determined that yeast cells without certain DNA mismatch repair enzymes display genetic instabilities also present in hereditary human colorectal cancer cells.