Wade Harper is the Bert and Natalie Vallee Professor of Molecular Pathology, chairman of cell biology at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Program in Cancer Cell Biology. His early work focused on the functions, mechanisms and targets of two major regulatory systems involved in cell cycle control and DNA repair: cyclin-dependent kinases and cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases. His recent work centers on understanding how the ubiquitin and autophagy recycling pathways re-sculpt the proteome and cell structures in response to nutrient signals and organelle damage, including a detailed analysis of mechanism underlying targeted destruction of mitochondria, ER and ribosomes. His work has also contributed to large-scale analysis of human protein–protein interactions, providing an overview of the protein networks that make up the human interactome. His awards include Vallee Visiting Professorship, Javits Neuroscience award from NIH, and election to the American Society of Arts and Sciences.