Peter N. Devreotes
Johns Hopkins University
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Primary Section: 23, Physiology and Pharmacology Secondary Section: 22, Cellular and Developmental Biology Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2005)
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Biosketch
Peter Devreotes is Isaac Morris and Lucille Elizabeth Hay Professor of the Department of Cell Biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago, he joined the Biological Chemistry Department at Johns Hopkins University and, ultimately, served as Director of the Department of Cell Biology from 2000 to 2020. Dr. Devreotes is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the recipient of the 2019 E.B. Wilson Medal from the American Society for Cell Biology. He has served on the Council of the American Society for Cell Biology, the Advisory Boards of the Cell Migration Consortium, and the Searle Scholar Program. He founded the Gordon Conference on "Gradient Sensing and Directed Cell Migration." Dr. Devreotes' research focuses on understanding how cells sense their surroundings and move towards chemical stimuli. Chemotaxis is critical for morphogenesis in development, immune cell trafficking, stem cell homing and wound healing, and it is exploited in disease states such as cancer metastasis. Dr. Devreotes was the first to identify chemoattractant receptors and to demonstrate that signaling events occur selectively at the cell’s leading edge, studies that have led to the most definite understanding of the strategy that cells use to sense direction.
Research Interests
Dr. Devreotes' research focuses on understanding how cells sense their surroundings and move towards chemical stimuli. Chemotaxis is critical for morphogenesis in development, immune cell trafficking, stem cell homing and wound healing, and it is exploited in disease states such as cancer metastasis. Dr. Devreotes was the first to identify chemoattractant receptors and to demonstrate that signaling events occur selectively at the cell's leading edge, studies that have led to the most definite understanding of the strategy that cells use to sense direction.
