Gary Karpen, a senior faculty scientist in the Biological Systems and Engineering Division, has been elected into the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Karpen, also a professor of cell and developmental physiology at UC Berkeley, studies how the structure, organization, and maintenance of genetic material impact inheritance and cell function.

His lab focuses on chromatin—a packaged form of DNA strands wrapped around proteins that forms comprises our chromosomes—with a particular emphasis on centromeres, rarely expressed sequences called heterochromatin, DNA repair, and regulatory RNAs. His research reveals insights into fundamental aspects of nuclear organization and genome regulation that are shared across the tree of life, broadening our understanding of cancer and other diseases, birth defects, and aging.

Karpen is one of two faculty scientists at Berkeley Lab elected into the 2026 NAS cohort, totaling 120 new members.

The NAS is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and—alongside the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine—provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.

Read more in the Berkeley Lab News Center.