Evolutionary geneticist Nels Elde ’95 receives MacArthur Foundation ‘genius grant’

University of Utah evolutionary geneticist Nels Elde ’95 is the recipient of a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship—one of the nation’s most prestigious awards.

A biology major at Carleton, Elde’s work as an evolutionary geneticist centers around investigating host-pathogen interactions and the evolutionary processes that enable organisms to better attack others or defend themselves. Through retrospective analysis of evolutionary histories and microbial experimental evolution in the lab, Elde identified several molecular mechanisms that drive rapid evolution of functional adaptations in hosts and pathogens.

The 2020 MacArthur Fellow’s work could not come at a better time, as the world continues to battle in the fight against COVID-19. While the full impact of Elde’s work is yet unknown, his research has already begun to provide wide-ranging information from better understanding of host switching to identifying targets in bacteria and viruses as treatment for emerging infectious diseases.

Outside the lab, Elde serves as an organizer of a community garden in Salt Lake City and raises chickens on part of that garden, where he says he sees the same genetic diversity in the chickens that he studies in his lab. Since 2015, Elde has helped co-host “This Week in Evolution,” a podcast that seeks to explain the science of evolution in more understandable terms. His scientific articles have appeared in journals such as Cell, Science, Nature, Current Biology and several others.

The 2020 MacArthur Fellowship—often referred to as a “genius grant”—was awarded to 21 individuals ranging from writers and historians to scientists and sociologists who have a proven track record of creativity and show enormous potential to produce more creative work in the years ahead. Each recipient receives a cash prize of $625,000, paid over five years, funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Elde will look to spend some of his MacArthur prize money on educating the general public about science.

Elde received a BA from Carleton in 1995 and his PhD from the University of Chicago in 2005. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center from 2005 to 2011, and joined the University of Utah faculty in 2011, where he currently serves as an associate professor in the Department of Human Genetics.