David Stern, Ph.D., is an Investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator. Stern joined the Institute in February 2026, relocating his laboratory from HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus, where he served as a Senior Group Leader since 2011.

Originally trained as a biologist with a deep appreciation for the natural world, Stern’s scientific path has consistently returned to a core theme: how evolution generates novelty and whether that novelty shows up as a new behavior, a new form, or a new way one organism can influence another. 

Stern earned his B.S. in Biology from Cornell University in 1989 and completed graduate training in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University, receiving his M.S. in 1991 and Ph.D. in 1994. He then continued research in Cambridge, United Kingdom, as a Research Fellow, where he further developed an evolutionary framework that continues to shape his lab’s approach: start with careful observation, then use genetics and mechanism-driven experiments to explain what nature is doing.

Stern joined Princeton University’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology as an Assistant Professor in 2001, became an Associate Professor in 2005, and was promoted to Professor in 2009. In 2008, he was named an HHMI Investigator. During this period, and continuing into his later career, Stern pursued questions at the intersection of genetics and evolution — including how genetic changes contribute to differences in morphology and behavior across species.

At Janelia, Stern embraced a style of research built around the freedom to combine methods and systems: genetics, genomics, structural work, cell biology, and field sampling. That flexibility helped catalyze a new and increasingly central direction for the lab, investigating the molecular logic of insect–plant interactions. Stern has described this work as a long-standing fascination, rooted in early experiences in which he noticed galls, or unusual growths on plants, in nature. He's now exploring galls and their impact with new tools that make it possible to ask mechanistic “how” questions in non-traditional systems.

Today, Stern’s laboratory investigates how insects hijack plant development to induce plant galls. The Stern lab has discovered that aphids — tiny, sap-sucking insects — inject a novel family of BICYCLE proteins that appear to contribute to gall development. Aphids are sometimes called the “mosquitoes of the plant world” because they don’t just feed on plants, they also spread disease. The Stern lab is studying many aspects of this problem, with a focus on how BICYCLE proteins alter plant cell biology. He's investigating where the proteins go in plant cells, what they do once they arrive, and what they interact with. Over time, insights from this work could help inform more precise strategies for controlling crop pests.

Stern’s honors include the American Society of Naturalists’ Young Investigator Prize, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship in Science and Engineering, and election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

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