Kristala Jones Prather Explained

Kristala Jones Prather
Workplaces:Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alma Mater:Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of California, Berkeley
Doctoral Advisor:Jay Keasling
Website:http://prathergroup.mit.edu/

Kristala Jones Prather is an American professor of chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research is focused on using novel bioprocesses to design recombinant microorganisms to produce small molecules.

Early life and education

Prather was born in Cincinnati.[1] She grew up in Longview, Texas.[2] She was inspired to study chemical engineering by her physics and calculus teachers. She earned a Bachelor of Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994,[3] and a Ph.D at University of California, Berkeley, in 1999.

She has been involved with the National Society of Black Engineers and National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers.[4]

Research and career

Prather worked at BioProcess R&D and the Merck & Co. labs for four years, working on biocatalysis for the transformation of small molecules and mammalian cell lines for therapeutic proteins.[5] [6] This enabled her to produce drugs with biological processes rather than chemical reactions.[7] She was appointed to the faculty of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2004. In 2009, her team created glucaric acid from Escherichia coli that contained enzymes from three organisms.

In 2014, she was appointed a Fellow at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.[8] In 2016, she was an investigator in the multi-institutional Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center, as well as leader of the Prather lab.[9] [10] She specializes in retrobiosynthesis.[11] [12] These pathways use synthetic DNA that can be added to biological hosts. In 2018, she gave expert evidence to the National Academy of Sciences about vulnerabilities in biodefense.[13]

Prather has won numerous awards for her research, including the Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress from the American Institute of Chemical Engineering in 2021. She was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2018.[14]

In late 2023, Prather was appointed head of MIT's Department of Chemical Engineering.[15]

Prather is known for her teaching, mentoring, and advocacy.[16] [17] [18] In 2016, she was profiled on Spellbound, how kids become scientists. In 2015, Prather served on the advisory board of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars SynBio Project.[19] She has been involved with several initiatives to support MIT students of color.[20]

Selected publications

Honors and awards

2005 - Office of Naval Research Young Investigator award[21]

2007 - Technology Review "TR35" Young Innovator Award[22]

2018 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seed Grant[23]

2010 - National Science Foundation CAREER Award[24] [25]

2010 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Engineering Junior Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching[26]

2011 - Biochemical Engineering Journal Young Investigator Award[27]

2012 - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions[28]

2014 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology MacVicar Faculty Fellow

2017 - Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology Charles Thom Award[29]

2017 - Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award[30]

2018 - AAAS Fellow[31]

2021 - Gordon Y. Billard Award[32]

2021 - AIChE's Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Institute Archives and Special Collections. 2011-02-11. MIT. 2018-05-23.
  2. Web site: 2019-08-27 . Finding Her Way: Kristala L. Jones Prather, Ph.D. - Science360 - Video Library . 2023-03-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190827204956/https://science360.gov/obj/video/753bb4fa-aafb-4315-848e-51066ed9799a/finding-way-kristala-l-jones-prather-phd . 2019-08-27 .
  3. Web site: Plenary Speakers: ECB 2018. www.ecb2018.com. en. 2018-05-23.
  4. News: NOBCChE 37th Annual Conference Atlanta, GA March 29 - April 2, 2010. Issuu. 2018-05-23. en.
  5. News: Kristala Jones Prather. 2015-08-17. Source of the Week. 2018-05-23. en-US.
  6. News: Turning bacteria into chemical factories. MIT News. 2018-05-23.
  7. News: The Bigger Questions. 2009-02-27. Science AAAS. 2018-05-23. en.
  8. News: Kristala Jones Prather. 2014-04-22. Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. 2018-05-23. en.
  9. Web site: Symposium: Beyond 2016—MIT's Frontiers of the Future MIT 2016. mit2016.mit.edu. en. 2018-05-23.
  10. News: Kristala L. Jones Prather. lukem. 2016-02-02. Programs for Professionals MIT Professional Education. 2018-05-23. en.
  11. Web site: MIT Scientist Kristala Jones Prather Finds Breakthroughs in Bioengineering. Robert R. Taylor Network. en-US. 2018-05-23.
  12. News: Graduate Seminar: Kristala L. Jones Prather. 2012-11-08. Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. 2018-05-23. en.
  13. Web site: Committee: Strategies for Identifying and Addressing Biodefense Vulnerabilities Posed by Synthetic Biology. www8.nationalacademies.org. 2018-05-23.
  14. Web site: Profile of Kristala Jones Prather.
  15. Web site: Kristala Prather named Head of Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT News Nov. 13, 2023. 13 November 2023 .
  16. News: Five professors named 2014 MacVicar Faculty Fellows. MIT News. 2018-05-23.
  17. Web site: Kristala Prather FabFems. www.fabfems.org. en. 2018-05-23.
  18. Web site: JBHE: Latest News for 1/6/11. www.jbhe.com. 2018-05-23.
  19. Web site: Kristala Jones Prather - Synthetic Biology Project . https://web.archive.org/web/20150214104748/http://www.synbioproject.org/about/advisoryboard/kristala_jones_prather/ . February 14, 2015 . 2018-05-23 . www.synbioproject.org.
  20. Web site: Capture the MO*MIT. mitblackhistory.blogspot.co.uk. en. 2018-05-23.
  21. Web site: Founders and Advisors . www.synlogictx.com. en-US. 2018-05-23.
  22. News: MIT faculty, alumni among Technology Review's top young innovators. MIT News. 2018-05-23.
  23. News: Recipients of first round of seed grants for MIT energy research. MIT News. 2018-05-23.
  24. Web site: Kristala Jones Prather. www.aiche.org. 10 October 2017. en. 2018-05-23.
  25. Kristala. Prather. CAREER: Design, Construction and Characterization of Metabolite Valves. Grantome. en.
  26. News: Kristala Prather honored for excellence in teaching. MIT News. 2018-05-23.
  27. Book: Biochemical Engineering Journal.
  28. Web site: Kristala Prather. World Economic Forum. 2018-05-23.
  29. News: Charles Thom Award Winner 2017 - Kristala Prather. SIMB Annual Meeting. 2018-05-23. en-US.
  30. Web site: MLK Leadership Award – Diversity – Equity – Inclusion at MIT. diversity.mit.edu. en-US. 2018-05-23.
  31. Web site: Three MIT faculty elected 2018 AAAS Fellows. news.mit.edu. 27 November 2018 . en-US. 2018-12-05.
  32. Web site: Kristala L. Jones Prather – MIT Chemical Engineering . 2022-03-02 . en-US.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kristala Jones Prather".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.