President's Message

How far we've come

Ann Stock
March 1, 2023

As president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, I often think about the society leaders who came before me and how they influenced our organization and the science that we do today.

University of Washington colleagues Ed Krebs and Eddy Fischer are two of them. Krebs was president of the ASBMB when I was in graduate school. Fischer served as an editorial board member of our flagship Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Krebs and Fischer trained many future ASBMB members who have continued to make seminal contributions to the field. Indeed, Krebs’ and Fischer’s impacts were legion long before they won the 1992 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for describing reversible protein phosphorylation.

In March, I will have the great privilege of presiding over our annual meeting — Discover BMB — in Seattle.

It pleases me to share with you that John Scott, who today chairs the UW department that Krebs once led, and Alexandra Newton of the University of California, San Diego, who is president of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, will host a special event for us.

“ASBMB–IUBMB tribute to Eddy Fischer: Reversible phosphorylation” will be held on Sunday, March 26, and will feature a great lineup of speakers:

It will look back briefly on the remarkable discoveries Krebs and Fischer made and, given that we now understand phosphorylation affects all aspects of cellular behavior and that aberrant modification underlies disease, it will look ahead to what’s on the horizon of phosphorylation research, including discovery-based design of kinase inhibitors.

It should be of great interest to students, trainees and researchers from academia and industry, particularly those who are investigating phosphorylation-based signaling mechanisms in disease.

I hope to see you in Seattle and at this event.

Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?

Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition monthly.

Learn more
Ann Stock

Ann Stock is a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers and resident faculty member at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine. She became the ASBMB’s president in July 2022.

Get the latest from ASBMB Today

Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.

Latest in Opinions

Opinions highlights or most popular articles

Debugging my code and teaching with ChatGPT
Essay

Debugging my code and teaching with ChatGPT

Oct. 16, 2025

AI tools like ChatGPT have changed the way an assistant professor teaches and does research. But, he asserts that real growth still comes from struggle, and educators must help students use AI wisely — as scaffolds, not shortcuts.

AI in the lab: The power of smarter questions
Essay

AI in the lab: The power of smarter questions

Oct. 14, 2025

An assistant professor discusses AI's evolution from a buzzword to a trusted research partner. It helps streamline reviews, troubleshoot code, save time and spark ideas, but its success relies on combining AI with expertise and critical thinking.

How AlphaFold transformed my classroom into a research lab
Essay

How AlphaFold transformed my classroom into a research lab

Oct. 10, 2025

A high school science teacher reflects on how AI-integrated technologies help her students ponder realistic research questions with hands-on learning.

Writing with AI turns chaos into clarity
Essay

Writing with AI turns chaos into clarity

Oct. 2, 2025

Associate professor shares how generative AI, used as a creative whiteboard, helps scientists refine ideas, structure complexity and sharpen clarity — transforming the messy process of discovery into compelling science writing.

Teaching AI to listen
Essay

Teaching AI to listen

Sept. 18, 2025

A computational medicine graduate student reflects on building natural language processing tools that extract meaning from messy clinical notes — transforming how we identify genetic risk while redefining what it means to listen in science.

What’s in a diagnosis?
Essay

What’s in a diagnosis?

Sept. 4, 2025

When Jessica Foglio’s son Ben was first diagnosed with cerebral palsy, the label didn’t feel right. Whole exome sequencing revealed a rare disorder called Salla disease. Now Jessica is building community and driving research for answers.