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Category: History of Science; General Interest
Women in Microbiology is now available on Wiley.comMembers, use the code ASM20 at check out to receive your 20% discount.
Tales of Extraordinary Female Scientists
Many girls want to become scientists when they grow up, just like many boys do. But for these girls, the struggle to do what they love and to be treated with respect has been much harder because of the discrimination and bias in our society. In Women in Microbiology, we meet women who, despite these obstacles and against tough odds, have become scientific leaders and revered mentors. The women profiled in this collection range from historic figures like Alice Catherine Evans and Ruth Ella Moore to modern heroes like Michele Swanson and Katrina Forest.
What binds all of these remarkable women are a passion for their work, a zest for life, a warm devotion to mentoring others—especially younger women—and a sense of justice and fairness that they are willing to fight tirelessly to obtain. Each story is unique, but each woman featured in Women in Microbiology has done so much to expand our knowledge of the natural world while also making it easier for the next generation of scientists to work collaboratively and in an atmosphere where people are judged by their intellect, imagination, skill, and commitment to service regardless of gender or race.
Women in Microbiology is a wonderful collection of stories that will inspire everyone, but especially young women and men who are wondering how to find their way in the working world. Some of the names are familiar and some are lesser known, but all of the stories arouse a sense of excitement, driven by tales of new, important scientific insights, stories of overcoming adversity and breaking boundaries, and the inclusion of personal tips and advice from successful careers. These stories are proof that a person can live a balanced and passionate life in science that is rich and rewarding.
Paperback, 329 pages, full-color illustrations, index.
Dr. Bonnie Bassler, also known as the “bacteria whisperer,” has for nearly three decades pursued her curiosity about the social lives of Earth’s smallest living organisms. She has been discovering and translating bacterial languages for quorum sensing, which allows bacteria to interact and coordinate behavior, and she has demonstrated the profound importance of those interactions in nature. From being a young professor at Princeton University to teaching, writing grants, and being recruited to be a scientific advisor to President Obama, Dr. Bassler has dealt with the imposter voice nagging in her head, figuring “what’s the worst thing that could happen?” Through her curiosity-driven and original research, Dr. Bassler has helped establish quorum sensing as so very much more than a curiosity found in a bioluminescent bacterium. She has received countless awards for her fundamental contributions to microbiology and her paradigm-changing scientific research. She has raised several generations of scientists and continues her adventure together with her lab gang, doing everything she’s always wanted: making great discoveries.
Antje Boetius is a microbiological oceanographer hailing from Frankfurt, Germany, and working at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology as a professor of geomicrobiology. Boetius’s work on anaerobic methanotrophs has helped break open some of environmental microbiology’s big questions. This chapter is a personal reflection from Jeffrey Marlow on Dr. Boetius’s life and career, with commentary from Antje herself as well as numerous friends and colleagues.
Sallie “Penny” Chisholm is a U.S. biological oceanographer and Institute Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). An expert in microbial ecology and evolution, she is known for discovering the marine bacterium Prochlorococcus, the tiniest and most abundant photosynthetic organism on the planet. Her work has been recognized with many honors and awards, including membership in the National Academy of Sciences in 2004 and a National Medal of Science awarded to her by President Barack Obama in 2011. Chisholm began as the only female biologist in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. She has advocated for the equal employment of female professors in the sciences and has inspired women through her persistence and devotion to her research. New generations of aspiring biologists can engage with her work through her series of children’s books on photosynthesis. After decades of work, Chisholm has accumulated many individual accomplishments, but it is through her mentorship and the collective achievements of the scientists she has inspired that her character truly shines.
Most researchers are familiar with Margaret Dayhoff’s name from the point accepted mutation series of amino acid scoring matrices. However, this contribution was only a small part of her work, which laid the foundations of the field of bioinformatics. In fact, her work was transformative, acquiring its power from a synthesis of the comparative approach of organismal biology and its application to molecular data (sequences) from a wide array of organisms. Remarkably, she was developing this groundbreaking work at a time when women scientists were rare and underappreciated. As the field of bioinformatics continues to grow in relevance, so does the power of her story to inspire new crops of female scientists.
Johanna Döbereiner, a pioneer soil microbiologist and Brazil’s most-cited female scientist, was a model of leadership, ethics, and enthusiasm. Known for her rigorous science and strong personality, she provided a supportive work environment for those who passed through her lab. At a time in which it was uncommon for females to enter scientific fields and succeed, Johanna built an outstanding career that continues to inspire those whose lives she touched as well as a new generation of microbiologists. This chapter, written by Graciela Brelles-Mariño, covers Dr. Döbereiner’s early life, career, and scientific achievements and impacts, and it features numerous personal comments from former lab members and colleagues.
Diana Downs is a microbial physiologist who exemplifies the application of creativity and persistence in research by challenging paradigms through elegant incorporation of genetics and biochemistry to dissect metabolic pathways. Focusing on the robustness of one essential pathway, Diana’s research has unraveled metabolism while defining function of numerous enzymes. Her approach to research has shaped her unique mentoring style, which encourages students to challenge ideas and preconceptions, to temper excitement and curiosity with rigorous and creative experimentation, and to develop independence. Her approach has inspired many of her female students, including me, to be confident in our work, find our passion, and build successful careers in both academia and industry.
Nicole Dubilier is a marine biologist whose work with microbes and marine invertebrates explores symbiosis and the ecology of chemosynthetic environments. She is the head of the Department of Symbioses at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology and a professor at the University of Bremen. This chapter covers Dr. Dubilier’s life and career, from ballet to marine biology and everything in between, as well as personal reflections from the author, Elizabeth Wilbanks.
Katrina J. Edwards (1968–2014) was a force in the environmental microbiology world with diverse training in the fields of geology, isotope geochemistry, and geomicrobiology. She founded the Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations with the National Science Foundation, which has produced over 300 publications on the biological, hydrological, and geochemical processes that occur in the subsurface of the Earth. This chapter is a personal reflection from John R. Spear on Dr. Edwards’ life, career, and how she continues to inspire a new generation of researchers in geobiology and science in general.
It can be stated that Alice C. Evans was the first professionally successful female microbiologist and that all succeeding female microbiologists “stand on her shoulders.” She was the first woman to hold a permanent appointment as a bacteriologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, she was the first woman to hold a senior appointment in the U.S. federal government, and she was the first female president of what is now known as the American Society for Microbiology. Her research and efforts resulted in the change of federal laws involving the pasteurization of milk. She is known as the Mother of Pasteurization in the United States. She accomplished all of this in the early decades of the 1900s, a time when science was intensely male dominated. However, Evans was not a laboratory recluse. She rode in an airplane just one year after Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic, and she was known to dress fashionably. At 89 years of age, Evans was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Science, and she was later placed in the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Evans was especially honored when she was depicted as one of the four “Mount Rushmore” faces of microbiology on the cover of the SGM Quarterly magazine of August 1995. She was renowned! She was worldly! She was trendy! Come meet Alice Evans!
Mary Firestone is a microbial ecologist who has worked extensively on the roles of soil microorganisms in terrestrial ecosystem function. She is known for her early work on microbial mediation of nitrogen oxidation and reduction processes, including microbial control of nitrous oxide and nitric oxide production, microbial adaptation to water regimes, and carbon- and nitrogen-based interactions among plant roots and soil organisms. She is a central player in the development of microbial physiological ecology, and perhaps no other scientist has done more to integrate microbial ecology with terrestrial biogeochemistry. Firestone grew up in Oklahoma City, OK, and knew from an early age that she wanted to be a scientist. Initially a lab technician valued for her instrumentation abilities, she earned a B.S. and M.S. in microbiology from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in soil science; her dissertation on control of N2O production won the Soil Science Society of America’s Emil Truog award. She joined the faculty at University of California, Berkeley (UCB), in 1979 and at the time was one of the very few women on soil science faculties in the United States. Mary went only to play many roles at UCB, including chairing the faculty senate in 2008. Her work has been recognized by a range of disciplines: she is a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America, American Academy of Microbiology, Ecological Society of America, and American Geophysical Union. Universally described as brilliant, beloved, and dedicated to her students, Mary Firestone was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in May 2017.
Amalia Voureka was a physician, bacteriologist, and Greek Resistance activist who joined the laboratory of Sir Alexander Fleming in 1946 on a scholarship. She had nine research publications between May 1947 and August 1952, four of which were as the single author and three as the first author. Only three were coauthored with Sir Fleming. Her research focus was bacteria and antimicrobial agents. She demonstrated variable endpoints for the bacteriostatic power of streptomycin depending on media used, inoculum size, salt concentration, and atmospheric conditions. She worked on bacterial antibiotic resistance, demonstrating the induction of bacterial variants following chloramphenicol treatment. In another paper, she showed that penicillin-resistant bacteria can be made sensitive by coculture with other organisms that are either penicillin sensitive or insensitive. In a study of staphylococcal strains from the anterior nares of patients, she documented a low rate of penicillin resistance (7.6%). Elsewhere, she showed that toxin production by staphylococci is important for virulence. She determined that bacterial flagella can be critical for movement and not simply attachments resulting from cell distress. She refined and invented new laboratory techniques, improving on flagellar staining. Dr. Voureka married Sir Fleming in 1953, despite a 31-year age difference. Her marriage to Sir Fleming was brief (he died of a heart attack in 1955). She later returned to Greece but was exiled and stripped of her citizenship by the military junta for her political activities. After the junta fell, she returned to Greece and was elected to Parliament in 1977, 1981, and 1985. She died in 1986.
Katrina Forest is a microbiologist in the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is an accomplished researcher, focused in applied and molecular biology, but her interests extend broadly, including encouraging women in science and engineering. This chapter, based on dialog between Dr. Forest and the author, Katherine McMahon, profiles Dr. Forest’s winding career path and includes words of wisdom and “life lessons” to help inspire and guide women entering this discipline.
Elodie Ghedin is a scientist, innovator, and trendsetter in the field of genomics. Ghedin’s cutting-edge research has opened a world of opportunities for the detection, tracking, and monitoring of emerging infectious disease outbreaks in real time. In addition to her skills and talents, which enable her to be a true innovator in the field of genomics, she is also a committed mentor for the next generation of computational biologists. This chapter by Tamara Lewis Johnson covers this trailblazing scientist, her motivations and accomplishments, and how she has inspired those whose lives and trainings she has touched.
Jane Gibson was a respected member of a small group of women who served as the first female professors of microbiology in the United States. She worked mainly in the field of photosynthetic bacteria, in both biochemistry and microbial physiology. This chapter covers her life and career in research, teaching, and mentoring and features personal reflections from the author, Dr. Caroline Harwood.
Despite the disapproval of her family and the criticisms of male faculty, Millicent “Mimi” Goldschmidt earned a Ph.D. in microbiology in 1953 and went on to have a profound impact on the U.S. Space Program, including the development of microbiology techniques that would be used on the moon. The Apollo Program helped Mimi recognize a severe lack of rapid diagnostic tests in microbiology, to which she would dedicate her research career. Along the way, Mimi became a pioneering advocate for women in microbiology and inspired generations of students to careers in microbiology.
This chapter, written by Carin K. Vanderpool, profiles the microbiologist Susan Gottesman and includes stories and reflections from her life and career. Her work has pioneered the study of regulatory proteolysis as well as characterization of bacterial small RNAs. Dr. Gottesman is a member of the American Academy of Microbiology and the National Academy of Sciences and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society for Microbiology, the Herbert Tabor Research Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology. The chapter concludes with reflections from the author about her postdoctoral training with Dr. Gottesman.
Dr. Carlyn Halde was the epitome of a free spirit. She lived her life with curiosity and adventure. She was a groundbreaker for women in science, becoming one of the first Fulbright Scholar recipients. She dedicated her life to the pursuit of knowledge and helping others to pursue their dreams through her many philanthropic contributions. But how did she manage to sidestep the conventional limits of women in the 1940s and pursue the life she envisioned for herself? It is a story of having the self-confidence to follow your dreams, the foresight to plan for them, and the persistence to follow them through. It remains a blueprint for any woman trying to establish herself in science today.
Jo Handelsman is pioneer in the field of functional metagenomics, an author of numerous book and journal publications, a former editor-in-chief of the journal DNA and Cell Biology, and the former Associate Director for Science at the White House during the Obama administration. This chapter, written by her former postdoc Patrick Schloss, covers Dr. Handelsman’s life and career and features personal stories and reflections from the author.
Caroline Harwood is a microbiologist working to decipher pathways of biodegradation, signal transduction, and biofuel exploration at the biochemical and molecular levels. In addition to her research career, she is also an excellent writer and mentor whose enthusiasm for sciences fosters a truly collaborative atmosphere. This chapter by Rebecca E. Parales and Margaret McFall-Ngai covers Dr. Harwood’s career and personal reflections from the authors as well as a number of her mentees from over the years.
Dr. Marian Johnson-Thompson is a revered, long-time mentor for countless female mentees who have themselves attained mentor status. As the Director of Education and Biomedical Research Development at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), she sponsored, supported, encouraged, and fostered numerous women in microbiology and in the sciences in general. Her life’s work has directly and indirectly led to the production of female scientists in academia, industry, and government, and her contribution to the pipeline continues to grow exponentially.
Carol D. Litchfield (1936–2012) was a pioneer as a woman in oceanographic microbiology and biochemistry and a professor at both Rutgers State University of New Jersey and George Mason University in Virginia. She spent time in bioremediation industrial work but is especially noted for her work in oceans and in halophilic (high-salt) environments. Working in salt production facilities, she characterized the microbiota of salterns and developed techniques for industrial microbiology. Carol also worked in natural hypersaline systems, such as Great Salt Lake. She relished in learning new techniques and using multiple approaches to explore a problem. Her body of work extends from studies of many of the Earth’s environments to discussions about the possibility of extreme life off our planet. Carol was also an amateur historian and amassed a collection of artifacts centered on the salt industry, which are now housed in a museum and available to researchers. This chapter, by Bonnie Baxter and Kendall Tate-Wright, covers Dr. Litchfield’s life and career and features interviews with former students and colleagues that reveal Carol’s talents and underscore her passion for mentoring, perhaps her most important contribution to science.
Dr. Ruth E. Moore battled both gender and racial discrimination to become the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in the natural sciences in 1933. She completed her graduate studies at Ohio State University, which later honored her with the Centennial Award for Distinguished Alumni. Her dissertation research focused on the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Dr. Moore spent the majority of her career at Howard University, where she rose through the ranks and ultimately served as chair of the Department of Bacteriology. She spent many years researching and publishing her data on a variety of research topics, including bacteriology and blood groupings of individuals from various backgrounds. Dr. Moore not only was a well-respected scientist but also dedicated to her life to serving students and her personal community. After stepping down as head of the department, she continued to educate and mentor students, as well as support Howard University, for several decades. This chapter by Candace Rouchon covers Dr. Moore’s significant accomplishments, which not only are recognized by her peers within the scientific community but also have garnered her acknowledgement by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Nancy A. Moran is the Leslie Surginer Endowed Professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin; her work focuses on how biological complexity arises in associations of organisms, particularly between insects and microbes. This chapter, written by John P. McCutcheon, explores Dr. Moran’s career path, her well-known work on insect endosymbionts, and her approach towards science and mentoring, as well as personal reflections from the author.
Flora Patterson (1847–1928), the first woman mycologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), developed the National Fungus Collection from a small collection to the largest of its kind in the world. During her decades of service at the USDA, she amassed over 90,000 specimens. Hired at the turn of the 20th century, she established a system for plant inspections and quarantine prior to the national Plant Quarantine Act of 1912. She and her team identified early specimens of several plant-pathogenic fungi, including those causing chestnut blight, potato wart disease, and white pine blister rust. She also published research on various plant pathogens, wrote mushroom guides, and identified mushrooms for the general public. Her work varied from testing methods for fumigating pineapples against postharvest rot to inspecting the gifted Japanese cherry trees sent to Washington, DC. Additionally, Patterson volunteered for multiple charitable and academic organizations in her community.
This chapter explores the relationship between Dr. Felicitas Pfeifer and the author, Dr. Christa Schleper, whom Dr. Pfeifer helped train and mentor, with an emphasis on logical, creative problem solving. Dr. Schleper highlights the ways in which Dr. Pfeifer helped her develop her confidence as a scientist and help set her on the path to a fruitful career.
Beatrix Potter, the well-known children’s author and illustrator, is most associated with the famous Peter Rabbit books. What many don’t realize is that she was also a scientist, using her artistic abilities to draw and document numerous types of flora and fauna, including a variety of fungi. She made many detailed reports and was one of the first mycologists to successfully culture and grow fungi from spores. It took many years for her contributions in this arena of microbiology to be recognized, but her impact is undeniable.
Abigail Salyers is arguably the mother of the microbiome: the revolutionary science that acknowledges the impact of our microbial ecosystems on human health. What inspired her to venture with indefatigable drive into the dark, inhospitable, anaerobic world of the human gut? To spend years of her life developing genetic tools for a nonmodel bacterium we now know makes up one-quarter of the cells in the human gut? To fight to make microbiology relevant and accessible in the medical curriculum? To “promote the cause of microbiology as THE biological discipline of the coming decades”? This chapter explores the life and career of Abigail and features reflections from some of the many individuals whom she mentored and inspired.
Christa Schleper is a microbiologist in the field of archaeal molecular biology and a leader in the discovery and characterization of new archaeal species. She was a key player in the discovery of Picrophilus oshimae and the first archaeal conjugative plasmid, pNOB8. This chapter is a personal reflection from Sonja Albers on Dr. Schleper’s career and how her accomplishments and enthusiasm have inspired the field of archaeal biology.
Marjory Stephenson was a biochemist who studied microbial metabolism from the 1920s through the 1940s at Cambridge University. She received a strong education in the sciences while attending Newnham College, affiliated with Cambridge. After service in World War I as a Red Cross dietitian, she joined the Biochemistry Institute at Cambridge, overseen by Sir F. G. Howland, a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist who supported many promising young scientists regardless of gender or origin. There she established a program studying the biochemistry of bacteria, especially anaerobes. Her research included naming and characterizing hydrogenase and formate hydrogen lyase enzyme complexes in Escherichia coli. She also studied the regulation of adaptive enzymes in bacteria, and her work was an early influence on Jacques Monod and his own studies on regulation of gene expression. Stephenson wrote three editions of an influential textbook on bacterial metabolism, renowned for its rigor and clarity. She was a founder of the Society for General Microbiology (now the Microbiology Society), served as its second president, and now has a biennial lecture/prize named in her honor. Finally, in 1945 Stephenson was one of the first two women (along with crystallographer Kathleen Lonsdale) elected into the Royal Society of London. Stephenson mentored several successful microbial physiologists, had a lively and critical intellect, and was fondly remembered by many who worked with her.
Michele Swanson credits Title IX for providing her the opportunity for a university education, during which she began the scientific training that has led to her current position as president-elect of the American Society for Microbiology. Michele’s story is inspirational, for she has charted a unique, rewarding, and balanced path. Michele has contributed in many significant ways to the field of microbiology, recognized and seized opportunities, and done so by making wise professional and personal choices. This chapter, by Brian Hammer, is a reflection on his Ph.D. mentor during her early career as an assistant professor, looking at her scientific influences prior to and her accomplishments since that time.
Patricia Ann Webb (1925–2005) left a rich legacy of work undertaken during a time when arbovirus and hemorrhagic fever virus studies were coming of age. She participated in the discovery and characterization of some of the most consequential infectious diseases of today. She had a role in the classification of the arenaviruses, including Machupo and Lassa viruses. She identified, by immunofluorescence, that Ebola virus was a new pathogen in 1976. She demonstrated that AIDS was unlikely to be transmitted by mosquitos or bed bugs. Patricia was a part of a legendary group of physicians, veterinarians, epidemiologists, microbiologists, entomologists, and ecologists whose findings and stories have inspired new generations of scientists. How they elucidated disease transmission, treatment, and control serves as the best examples of studies on emerging zoonotic diseases. Those who signed up had to have a yen for adventure, and Patricia thrived in exotic places. Colleagues fondly remember her as smart, sharp-witted, demanding, tenacious, detail-oriented, and crusty, but all knew that she could be counted on for support when needed. Her professional credentials and personal notes attest to her endeavors and achievements. In this chapter, by May Chu, some of those achievements are recounted, interspersed with personal recollections to give insight into a demanding and distinguished public health career. One can only imagine what she would have to say about today’s situation as the world is recovering from the largest-ever Ebola virus epidemic and as arboviruses like Chikungunya and Zika viruses are spreading from their natural habitats.
Donna M. Wolk pursued her higher degree later in life than many of her counterparts, yet in a short time she has achieved much success in clinical microbiology, contributing to the widespread use of molecular diagnostics in the clinical microbiology laboratory. Her dedication to improving health care for patients by implementing rapid, infectious disease diagnostics has allowed her to cross paths with many other scientists, both young and old. Those who do cross paths with Donna will likely reap the benefits of her jovial, brilliant, and giving personality, which indeed leaves an everlasting impression, both professionally and personally.
Esther Miriam Zimmer Lederberg (1922–2006) was an American microbiologist who did pioneering work with all of the ways bacteria transfer genetic information. She discovered bacteriophage λ in Escherichia coli and with Joshua Lederberg first observed transduction. She characterized Neurospora mutants to expand Beadle and Tatum’s “one gene, one protein” research, participated in early experiments in E. coli conjugation in the Lederberg lab at University of Wisconsin, and later worked on transformation of Salmonella with plasmid DNA at Stanford University. The 1958 Nobel Prize was awarded to Joshua Lederberg, George Wells Beadle, and Edward Lawrie Tatum, and the Lederbergs subsequently moved to Stanford, where Joshua became chair of the Department of Genetics and Esther an untenured researcher in the Department of Medical Microbiology. They divorced in 1966. Esther stayed at Stanford but was never tenured; she became director of the Plasmid Reference Center (PRC) in 1976, organizing registration of the world’s plasmids, transposons, and insertion sequences. Officially retiring from Stanford in 1985, she continued at the PRC through 1986. Esther enjoyed performing early music and was a founder of the Mid Peninsular Recorder Orchestra. In 1989, she met Matthew Simon, an engineer newly arrived at Stanford; drawn together by shared interests in early music, botany, and literature, they married in 1993 and were together for the rest of her life. Esther will be remembered as a creative and meticulous experimentalist who was an active participant in creating the science of molecular biology, and as someone who continued to advance science through kindness and generosity in helping others.
Streptomycin was discovered at Rutgers University by a graduate student named Albert Schatz, working in the laboratory of Selman Waksman. This golden age of antibiotic discovery unfolded against the backdrop of World War II and opened new doors for women in microbiology, who welcomed the opportunity to use their intellects, participate in the war effort, and experience the thrill of scientific discovery. Elizabeth Horning initiated the direct plate screening method used by Schatz, replacing a prior, slow enrichment protocol. Doris Jones provided one of the first streptomycin-producing strains and then performed the first animal trials, illustrating the nontoxic nature of streptomycin in chicks. Elizabeth Bugie (later Gregory) confirmed the antimicrobial activity of streptomycin and was coauthor on the first published paper about it. Her name was left off the patent because Waksman predicted she would “just get married.” Christine Reilly developed quick screening methods for the isolation of antibiotic-producing strains and demonstrated the first case of streptomycin resistance. Dorris Hutchison advanced our understanding of streptomycin’s effect on the tubercle bacillus. Vivian Schatz backed her husband, Albert, in his quixotic battle for appropriate recognition. Overall, women in the Waksman laboratory made substantial intellectual contributions, conducted independent research, provided technical and scholarly input to ongoing projects, and were intimately concerned at every level of the research. These women merit greater recognition for their key contributions in the development of the world’s antibiotics.
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