Duke Flags Lowered: Philip Benfey, Plant Biologist Who Studied Roots as a Window to Development, Dies

DURHAM, N.C. -- Biology professor Philip Benfey, a plant geneticist and entrepreneur who advanced our understanding of the way cells develop and differentiate, died Tuesday, September 26, after a battle with lung cancer. He was 70.

For nearly four decades, research in Benfey’s lab has focused on how cells are transformed from generalists to specialists.

Plant and animal tissues start as unspecialized cells called stem cells. Benfey