Biological sciences professor Magdalena Bezanilla has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, according to a statement released on Mar. 27. Bezanilla is among nearly 449 scientists, engineers, and innovators who have been elected as 2025 AAAS Fellows.
The recognition highlights Bezanilla’s pioneering research on plant cell growth and development. Her work focuses on understanding how cells shape themselves and their environment, which could help scientists engineer plants with specific traits such as climate resilience or suitability for biofuel production.
Bezanilla said, “I’m deeply honored that the scientific community values the contributions that my lab has made over the years.” She is known for using moss as a model system to uncover molecular mechanisms underlying cell structure. “I really don’t think there’s another organism that allows us to do what we can do with moss,” said Bezanilla. “We can watch the plant develop from a single cell over the period of days to weeks under the microscope and get an unparalleled view of development at the resolution of a single cell.”
Her laboratory pioneered techniques such as multi-gene silencing in moss, allowing groups of genes to be simultaneously silenced for study. More recent innovations include streamlining genetic editing tools specifically for moss research. These advances enable real-time monitoring of proteins in living cells and provide insights into how proteins are delivered within cells during growth.
In recent studies led by Bezanilla, her team identified important roles played by proteins like cellulose synthase-like D in plant growth and discovered how calcium ions create chemical maps guiding where material is added during cell expansion. Ongoing projects are investigating receptors that bind small proteins regulating plants’ responses to stress—research that may improve crop resilience.
Bezanilla’s achievements have earned her multiple honors including being named a fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists in 2023 and receiving awards such as the National Science Foundation CAREER award and Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
“Professor Bezanilla’s research has been key to elucidating the underlying mechanisms that control cell shape, and this award is fitting recognition of her importance to the field,” said Jane Lipson, associate dean for the sciences.
