EMSL Chemist Mary Lipton Elected AAAS Fellow

Mary Lipton, an analytical biochemist at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) and a joint appointee with the Washington State University (WSU) Institute of Biological Chemistry, has been elected as a 2022 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow.

One of seven people from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) elected 2022 AAAS Fellows—and the only one from EMSL—Lipton joins a select group of over 500 scientists and engineers who received the lifetime recognition in 2022.

The AAAS publishes the preeminent journal Science and is the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific organization, aiming to advance science, engineering, and innovation in service of society.

AAAS Fellows are honored for outstanding scientific and social accomplishments that target complex, worldwide problems. Lipton was also recognized for her distinguished contributions to the field of biological systems science, particularly for developing and applying advanced omics-based technologies to characterize complex biological systems.

“I am thrilled to be elected as an AAAS Fellow,” said Lipton. “To be recognized for the body of work that I’ve contributed to throughout my career is a great honor.”

Lipton joins EMSL’s Functional and Systems Biology Science Area Leader, Scott Baker, who was elected an AAAS Fellow in 2021.

Right place, right time

Lipton, who leads the EMSL Biomolecular Pathways Integrated Research Platform, has been with EMSL since the beginning. A Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility, EMSL first opened in 1997 with the goal of providing state-of-the-art facilities for fundamental scientists. At the time, Lipton had completed a PhD in protein biochemistry and joined PNNL (which EMSL calls home) to pursue mass spectrometry (MS). She specialized in a combination of MS and protein biochemistry, making her an ideal fit for EMSL’s fundamental science mission.

From that moment forward, Lipton has been instrumental in building EMSL’s internationally recognized omics capabilities, which are also the cornerstone of the user facility’s biology analytics suite. In many ways, Lipton has been as much a part of EMSL’s career as EMSL has been a part of her own.

A highlight-reel career

Thus far, Lipton has more than 150 publications to her name with over 10,000 citations. Among her numerous notable achievements, she was named a PNNL Woman of Achievement in 2001 and received an Outstanding Alumnus Award from the University of South Carolina (where she completed her PhD) in 2006.

She also serves on the public affairs advisory board for the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Lipton is currently on the editorial board of four different journals and holds memberships with a number of professional societies.

In addition to her joint appointment with the WSU Institute of Biological Chemistry, Lipton teaches as an adjunct professor of biology at WSU Tri-Cities, which is located just up the street from EMSL in Richland, Washington.