Lance Wells, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and associate director of the University of Georgia’s Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, has been named a 2026 Fellow of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
ASBMB is a nonprofit professional society dedicated to advancing discovery in the molecular life sciences. The organization has more than 11,000 members, and Wells was one of just 16 Fellows named this year for his exceptional and sustained service to the society and his distinguished record of accomplishment in disease research. He will be honored at the society’s annual meeting in March.
Wells, who has worked at UGA for more than 20 years, said he is committed to serving the next generation of scientists.
“Everyone I know who became a scientist didn’t do it for fame, fortune or money,” Wells said. “They just did it to try to leave the world a little better than they found it.”
His time at Emory University with mentor Judith L. Fridovich-Keil and at Johns Hopkins University with Gerald W. Hart shaped his philosophy as a scientist, Wells said.
“My mentors both took service and mentoring very seriously, and I feel a responsibility to pass that on,” he said. “So anytime there’s an opportunity to serve, especially if it involves trainees — grad students, postdocs — I’m in.”
Wells’ lab studies glycobiology and the role of O-glycosylation in neurological and muscular disorders. His research focuses on understanding how defects in O-glycan synthesis contribute to muscular dystrophy and intellectual disability. Wells is a Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator and was named a University of Georgia Distinguished Research Professor in 2021. His research is currently supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation’s BioFoundries program and, most recently, the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Wells has been involved with ASBMB since 2012, speaking at numerous meetings and workshops, organizing scientific themes and serving on several boards.
“If you look at the list of ASBMB fellows, there are a lot of my heroes and mentors already there,” he said. “It’s humbling to be in the same group as those people.”
He sees the honor as an opportunity to further support the next generation of scientists by mentoring more trainees and continuing to help organize the society’s annual meeting.
“There’s a good chance my generation has already made most of the big discoveries we’re going to make,” he said. “But we’re here to train the next generation who will make even bigger discoveries.”