Ruma Banerjee and Gerald W. Hart have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences as part of the organization’s 2026 class of members. The honor recognizes distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Established in 1863, the National Academy of Sciences provides independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology. It elects members in recognition of distinguished and continuing contributions to science.
Banerjee is a professor of biological chemistry at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on sulfur amino acid metabolism and the role of vitamin B12-dependent enzymes in human health and disease. Through biochemical and mechanistic studies, her group has advanced the understanding of sulfide signaling and metabolic pathways involved in disorders including methylmalonic aciduria, homocystinuria,.
Banerjee is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She also received the ASBMB–Merck Award in 2019 and the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry in 2001. Banerjee was the founding codirector of the ASBMB Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers program.
Hart is an emeritus professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Georgia. His research has focused on glycobiology and the discovery and characterization of O-GlcNAc modification, a key cellular signaling process that regulates protein function in response to nutrient status and stress. His work advanced understanding of the molecular basis of diseases, including diabetes, cancer and neurodegeneration.
Hart is an ASBMB fellow and received the Society for Glycobiology’s President’s Innovator Award in 2019 and the Karl Meyer Award in 2006.
Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition monthly.

Stacey Axler is ASBMB’s membership manager.
Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.
Charles Craik’s entrepreneurial journey shows how curiosity-driven chemistry led to multiple biotech companies, and how tools, collaboration and unmet clinical needs shape when academic discoveries move from the lab toward real-world impact.
He studied oxidative phosphorylation in cell extracts of a Gram-negative bacterium, identified rat and bovine serum albumin precursors and was an ASBMB member since 1967.
Peptide drugs can target complex proteins but often lack stability in the body. Vahe Bandarian discusses how Sethera Therapeutics is engineering complex peptides and translating academic discoveries into real-world applications.
They were honored for their contributions that advanced microbial sciences.
Five science outreach and communication projects received up to $1,000 from ASBMB to promote public understanding of the molecular life sciences.
The ASBMB Lipid Research Division members voted to re-elect Michael Airola and elect Anant Menon as codirectors.