Steven McKnight, chairman of the biochemistry department at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, was elected Monday to the Institute of Medicine.

Election to the institute, a component of the National Academies, is one of the country's highest honors for biomedical researchers.

Dr. McKnight, 56, was among 64 members elected this year. Institute members are chosen based on professional achievement and advise the government on medical care, research and education.

Early in his career, Dr. McKnight discovered that a protein that switches genes on resembled proteins that cause cancer. Today, the idea that switching genes on at the wrong time can contribute to tumor cells' growth is a central theme in cancer biology.

In recent years, Dr. McKnight has focused on proteins that activate genes, connecting them to abnormal eating and sleeping patterns, depression and symptoms resembling those found in schizophrenia.

Dr. McKnight earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Texas at Austin and a doctorate from the University of Virginia. He joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 1996. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

UT Southwestern now has 17 faculty members in the institute. One other Texan, Mary Estes, was elected Monday. She is a professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

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