George P. Hess, professor of biochemistry, molecular and cell biology, has been named a 2009 fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

This year's 210 fellows, the academy announced April 20, join one of the nation's most prestigious and honorary societies and a center for independent policy research. Also inducted this year were 19 foreign honorary members and novelist Thomas Pynchon '54.

Hess, a Cornell faculty member for more than 50 years, investigates the structure and function of neurotransmitter receptors, membrane-bound proteins that control and integrate communication between the cells of the nervous system. Malfunction of these receptors is the key to many nervous system diseases, he explains on his research Web site.

Hess' group has developed new techniques and chemical probes to investigate membrane-bound proteins. His laser-pulse photolysis method and light-activated neurotransmitters allow neurotransmitter receptors in cells to be investigated in the submillisecond time domain. His group is showing how the mechanisms of the receptors are affected by therapeutic and abused drugs or by epilepsy-linked mutations, and identifying compounds that correct the receptor malfunction.

Hess is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Microbiology and the Biophysical Society. He has been a John S. Guggenheim fellow, a Fulbright scholar and a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Award, among other honors.

After receiving his doctoral degree in biochemistry at the University of California-Berkeley, Hess completed postdoctoral training in chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the Cornell faculty in 1955.