Bonnie Bassler Explained

Bonnie Bassler
Birth Name:Bonnie Lynn Bassler
Birth Place:Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Workplaces:Princeton University
Known For:Quorum sensing
Spouse:Todd Reichart

Bonnie Lynn Bassler (born 1962) is an American molecular biologist; the Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology and chair of the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University; and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She has researched cell-to-cell chemical communication in bacteria and discovered key insights into the mechanism by which bacteria communicate, known as quorum sensing. She has contributed to the idea that disruption of chemical signaling can be used as an antimicrobial therapy.[2]

Bassler has received numerous awards for her research, including the Princess of Asturias Award (2023), Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (2021), the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize (2016), the L'Oreal-UNESCO award (2012), the Richard Lounsbery Award (2011), the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences (2009), and a MacArthur Fellowship (2002).

She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (as of 2006),[3] a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (as of 2012),[1] a former president of the American Society for Microbiology (2011) and served on the National Science Board with a term expiring May 10, 2016.[4] [5] She was an editor of the Annual Review of Genetics from 2012 to 2017.[6] [7]

Early life and education

Bassler was born in Chicago and raised in Danville, California. She began her career in science at 13 "as a veterinarian's assistant at the Miami Zoo and later at a local dog and cat clinic."[8]

Bassler entered the University of California, Davis as a major in veterinary sciences, but focused on genetics and biochemistry and received a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry. Bassler worked for UC Davis biochemistry and molecular medicine professor Frederic Troy, who assigned her to a bacteria research project. Within this project, Bassler characterized an enzyme in E. coli which cleaved sugars from various membrane glycoproteins. Bassler has stated that prokaryotes are "the perfect creatures to work on." Bassler attended Johns Hopkins University and received a PhD in biochemistry in 1990.[9]

Her postdoctoral research was conducted at the Agouron Institute in La Jolla, California where she worked with Michael R. Silverman from 1990 to 1994.[10] Silverman was the first to discover quorum sensing, by studying the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri. The glow-in-the-dark bacteria communicate chemically about their numbers and only give off light when a cohort is large enough to create an effective light source. Bassler determined further that bacteria are "multilingual" and use multiple chemical signal molecules to communicate with each other.

Since then, Bassler has also shown that bacteria use quorum sensing to differentiate self and other, a trait previously thought to be limited to more highly evolved organisms. Bassler has shown that viruses and host cells (such as human cells) as well as bacteria, use quorum sensing, and that the virulence of pathogenic bacteria is in part a result of quorum sensing. Bassler has developed anti-quorum-sensing strategies that, in animal models, halt infection from bacterial pathogens of global significance.[11] [12]

In 1994, Bassler joined the Princeton faculty. She is currently the chair of the department of molecular biology and the Squibb Professor in molecular biology.[13] Her lab at Princeton University researches quorum sensing, the process of cell-cell communication in bacteria.[14] [15]

Bassler's exploration of the ways in which bacteria communicate and behave collectively can be seen as contributing to a paradigm shift in how scientists view the microbial world. Bassler's discoveries are said to "open new vistas in basic science, but are also of practical significance."[16] Bassler's research has contributed new and exciting strategies for treating bacterial disease.[17] In 2002, the MacArthur Foundation awarded Bassler a fellowship in recognition of her contributions to the bacterial lexicon.[18] [19]

Research

During her postdoctoral research, Bassler experimented with genetic manipulation of bioluminescent genes in V. harveyi bacteria and discovered that this bacteria had multiple molecules for quorum sensing. She found that these bacteria use quorum sensing to turn on and off a large number of genes in response to communications from other bacteria. These communications and responses allow bacteria of the same species and of different species to cooperate in a similar manner to multi-cellular organisms. She extended this research in series of experiments leading to the discovery that boron binding is used as a co-factor in communication. Boron is found in abundance in the oceans where V. harveyi is found.[10]

Bassler's lab focuses on intra- and inter-species communication, self versus non-self recognition, information transferring, and population level cooperation. Research topics include: How bacteria distinguish self from other: ligand-receptor interactions, Dynamics: small RNA regulation of quorum sensing, Biofilms under flow and the public goods dilemma, Manipulation of quorum sensing on demand, and microbiome quorum sensing and inter-kingdom communication.

Awards and honors

Selected works

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Staff . Professor Bonnie L. Bassler ForMemRS . . October 21, 2012.
  2. Web site: Bonnie L. Bassler . Princeton University . March 11, 2016.
  3. Web site: Bonnie L. Bassler . National Academy of Sciences . September 17, 2021.
  4. News: Obama to nominate Princeton's Bassler for National Science Board . September 17, 2021 . Princeton University . October 21, 2011.
  5. Daily Digest . Congressional Record . April 26, 2012 . 158 . 61 . September 17, 2021.
  6. Web site: CO-EDITORS OF THE ANNUAL REVIEW OF GENETICS – VOLUME 46, 2012 . Annual Reviews . July 29, 2021.
  7. Web site: EDITOR OF THE ANNUAL REVIEW OF GENETICS – VOLUME 51, 2017 . Annual Reviews . July 29, 2021.
  8. Web site: Autobiography of Bonnie L Bassler . The Shaw Prize . February 1, 2022 . en.
  9. News: L'Oreal-UNESCO Names Professor Bonnie Bassler, Princeton University, For Women in Science 2012 Laureate for North America . February 2, 2022 . Princeton, New Jersey Patch . April 13, 2012 . en.
  10. Ahmed . Farooq . April 1, 2008 . Profile of Bonnie L. Bassler . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . en . 105 . 13 . 4969–4971 . 10.1073/pnas.0705870105 . 0027-8424 . 18362352 . 2278219 . 2008PNAS..105.4969A . free.
  11. Web site: Bonnie L. Bassler, Ph.D.. Howard Hughes Medical Institute. May 20, 2011.
  12. Schauder . S. . Bassler . B. L. . The languages of bacteria . 10.1101/gad.899601 . Genes & Development . 15 . 12 . 1468–80 . 2001 . 11410527. free .
  13. Web site: Bonnie Bassler . Broad Institute . May 3, 2019 . en . March 20, 2018.
  14. Web site: Bassler Lab Research. scholar.princeton.edu. en. May 2, 2020.
  15. Hmelo . Laura R. . Quorum Sensing in Marine Microbial Environments . Annual Review of Marine Science . January 3, 2017 . 9 . 1 . 257–281 . 10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060656 . 27814032 . 2017ARMS....9..257H . 1941-1405. free .
  16. Web site: Bonnie Bassler receives Gruber Genetics Prize. February 7, 2020 . Princeton University . en. February 2, 2022.
  17. News: Bassler receives Gruber Genetics Prize for discoveries on how bacteria communicate . February 2, 2022 . Princeton University . February 7, 2020 . en.
  18. Web site: Bonnie Bassler Molecular Biologist, Class of 2002 . MacArthur Foundation . 2002.
  19. Web site: Biologist Bonnie Bassler receives MacArthur Fellowship . Marilyn . Marks . September 25, 2002 . Princeton University News.
  20. News: Elected Fellows. October 21, 2016. AAAS – The World's Largest General Scientific Society. March 10, 2017.
  21. Web site: Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.amacad.org/sites/default/files/academy/multimedia/pdfs/publications/bookofmembers/ChapterB.pdf . October 9, 2022 . live . American Academy of Arts and Sciences. May 20, 2011.
  22. Web site: Special Recognitions 2008 . . February 1, 2022 .
  23. News: Eighth Annual Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences Awarded to Dr. Bonnie Bassler of Princeton University.
  24. Web site: Wiley Foundation Past winners.
  25. Web site: The Nifty Fifty (times 2) . . 2010 . February 1, 2022.
  26. Web site: National Science Board. National Science Board. March 10, 2017.
  27. Web site: Richard Lounsbery Award . National Academy of Sciences . March 10, 2017.
  28. Web site: UN and L'Oreal announce winners of women in science award . United Nations News. February 1, 2022 . en . November 8, 2011.
  29. Web site: Bassler Wins L'ORÉAL-UNESCO Award in Life Sciences . February 1, 2022 . National Academy of Sciences . November 8, 2011 . en.
  30. News: The 14th Annual L'ORÉAL-UNESCO Awards For Women in Science Honor Five Exceptional Women Who Move Science Forward . February 1, 2022 . L'Oréal USA . November 8, 2011 . en.
  31. News: Kelly . Morgan . FACULTY AWARD: Bassler to receive L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award . February 1, 2022 . Princeton University . November 8, 2011 . en.
  32. Web site: Bonnie Bassler; PhD . American Society for Microbiology . February 1, 2022.
  33. Web site: Members American Philosophical Society. www.amphilsoc.org. March 10, 2017.
  34. News: Princeton's Dr Bonnie Bassler Receives 2014 Alice C. Evans Award . February 1, 2022 . Genomics Research from Technology Networks . May 22, 2014 . en.
  35. News: The 2015 Prize in Life Science & Medicine Bonnie L. Bassler E. Peter Greenberg . February 1, 2022 . The Shaw Prize . 2015 . en.
  36. Web site: FASEB 2016 Excellence in Science Award recipient announced . EurekAlert! . February 1, 2022. July 1, 2015 . en.
  37. Web site: Bassler awarded Pearl Meister Greengard Prize . Princeton University . February 1, 2022 . en . November 17, 2016.
  38. Web site: AAAS Fellow Bonnie Bassler wins 2016 Max Planck Research Award. American Association for the Advancement of Science. October 20, 2018.
  39. News: National Academy of Medicine Elects 80 New Members – National Academy of Medicine. October 17, 2016. National Academy of Medicine. October 20, 2018.
  40. Web site: 2018 Dickson Prize Winner . Webteam. University of Pittsburgh . www.dicksonprize.pitt.edu . October 20, 2018.
  41. News: Ernst Schering Prize 2018 goes to Bonnie L. Bassler . February 1, 2022 . Schering Stiftung . 2018.
  42. Web site: People in the News 2018 . The Vallee Foundation . February 1, 2022.
  43. Web site: Congratulations to the recipients of the 2020 GSA Awards!. Genetics Society of America. February 5, 2020. January 29, 2020.
  44. News: Michael Silverman and Bonnie Bassler win 2021 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize . February 1, 2022 . EurekAlert! . January 27, 2021 . en.
  45. Web site: Mrusek . Marco . Mikrobiologen mit Paul Ehrlich- und Ludwig Darmstaedter-Preis geehrt . AerzteZeitung.de . January 27, 2021 . de . January 27, 2021.
  46. https://wolffund.org.il/2022/02/08/bonnie-l-bassler/ Wolf Prize in Chemistry 2022
  47. https://commencement.jhu.edu/home/our-history/honorary-degrees-awarded/
  48. https://www.gairdner.org/resource-hub/2023-canada-gairdner-award-winners-announced Canada Gairdner International Award 2023
  49. https://www.fpa.es/es/comunicacion/noticias/jeffrey-i-gordon-peter-greenberg-y-bonnie-l-bassler-premio-princesa-de-asturias-de-investigacion-cientifica-y-tecnica.html Princess of Asturias Awards 2023
  50. https://www.albanymed.org/news/2023-albany-prize-awarded-to-three-groundbreaking-researchers/ Albany Medical Center Prize 2023

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