DAVIS, Calif. -- William Lucas, a pioneering plant biology professor at the University of California, Davis, will receive the prestigious Martin Gibbs Medal in honor of his research on Sunday, Aug. 3, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Lucas will receive the medal for his contributions in forging a new field of study known as plasmodesmal biology. The field focuses on the movement of materials through structures that connect adjacent plant cells. Lucas' contributions include an impressive series of key observations, methodologies and insights that have promoted the study of plasmodesmata, cellular structures that connect the "cytoplasm" of adjoining plant cells. His work has advanced the theory that these structures regulate the movement of molecules, including metabolites, hormones and infectious material, between plant cells during plant growth and development. The medal will be presented Sunday evening at the awards ceremony of the annual meeting of the American Society of Plant Physiologists, held jointly this year with the Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists. The biennial award was initiated in 1993 to honor Martin Gibbs, editor-in-chief of the society's publication Plant Physiology from 1963 to 1993. The medal is given to an individual whose work has led to new directions of investigation in the plant sciences. Medal recipients are invited to organize a symposium at the annual meeting the following year. Lucas has been a member of the UC Davis faculty since 1977, specializing in plant physiology and plant cell biology. Previously, he was a research associate at the University of Toronto. He is a graduate of the University of Adelaide in Australia, where he received his Ph.D. in plant physiology in 1975.