Felisa Wolfe-Simon
Encyclopedia
Felisa Wolfe-Simon is an American microbial
geobiologist
and biogeochemist
. As a NASA
research fellow in residence at the US Geological Survey and a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute
, Wolfe-Simon led the team that discovered GFAJ-1
, an extremophile
bacterium that they claim is capable of substituting arsenic for a small percentage of its phosphorus and sustain its growth.
and completed a Bachelor of Arts
in Biology and Chemistry and a Bachelor of Music
in Oboe Performance and Ethnomusicology at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music
. She received her Doctor of Philosophy
in oceanography
from the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences
at Rutgers University
in 2006 with a dissertation titled The Role and Evolution of Superoxide Dismutases in Algae.
and exotic metabolic pathways. At a conference in 2008 and subsequent 2009 paper, Wolfe-Simon and colleagues proposed that arsenate
could serve as a substitute for phosphate
in various forms of biochemistry. As late as March 2010, she had been hinting of some shadow biosphere
results to the press. According to Paul Davies
, who coauthored that initial report, Wolfe-Simon was the one who had the critical insight that arsenic might be able to substitute for phosphorus.
Wolfe-Simon then led a search for such an organism by targeting the naturally occurring arsenic-rich Mono Lake
, California. This search led to the discovery of the bacterium GFAJ-1
, which her team proposes is able to incorporate arsenate
as a substitute for a small percentage of the typical phosphate
in its DNA and other essential biomolecules. If correct, this would be the only known organism to be capable of replacing phosphorus in its DNA and other vital biochemical functions. The Science publication and an hour-long December 2, 2010 NASA news conference were publicized and led to "wild speculations on the Web about extraterrestrial life". Wolfe-Simon was the only one of the paper's authors at that news conference. The news conference was promptly met with criticism by scientists and journalists. In the following month, Wolfe-Simon (and her co-authors and NASA) responded to criticisms through an online FAQ and an exclusive interview with a Science reporter, but also announced they would not respond further outside of scientific peer-review. Wolfe-Simon left USGS in May 2011 to pursue her research elsewhere. Wolfe-Simon claims she did not leave voluntarily, but was "effectively evicted" from the USGS group.
The Science article "A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus" appeared in the June 3, 2011 print version of Science; it had remained on the "Publication ahead of print" ScienceXpress page for six months after acceptance for publication.
Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to support work done at Harvard University
and Arizona State University
. In 2010, she received a Kavli Fellowship from the United States National Academy of Sciences
. Wolfe-Simon is currently a NASA Astrobiology Research Fellow.
Microbiology
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
geobiologist
Geobiology
Broadly defined, geobiology is an interdisciplinary field of scientific research that explores interactions between the biosphere and the lithosphere and/or the atmosphere....
and biogeochemist
Biogeochemistry
Biogeochemistry is the scientific discipline that involves the study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment...
. As a NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
research fellow in residence at the US Geological Survey and a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute
NASA Astrobiology Institute
The NASA Astrobiology Institute was established in 1998 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration "to develop the field of astrobiology and provide a scientific framework for flight missions". The NAI is a virtual, distributed organization that integrates astrobiology research and...
, Wolfe-Simon led the team that discovered GFAJ-1
GFAJ-1
GFAJ-1 is a strain of rod-shaped bacterium in the family Halomonadaceae. The extremophile was isolated from the hypersaline and alkaline Mono Lake in eastern California by a research team led by NASA astrobiologist Felisa Wolfe-Simon...
, an extremophile
Extremophile
An extremophile is an organism that thrives in physically or geochemically extreme conditions that are detrimental to most life on Earth. In contrast, organisms that live in more moderate environments may be termed mesophiles or neutrophiles...
bacterium that they claim is capable of substituting arsenic for a small percentage of its phosphorus and sustain its growth.
Education
Wolfe-Simon did her undergraduate studies at Oberlin CollegeOberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
and completed a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Biology and Chemistry and a Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree; the majority of work consists of prescribed music courses and study in applied music, usually requiring a...
in Oboe Performance and Ethnomusicology at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Oberlin Conservatory of Music
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, located on the campus of Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, was founded in 1865 and is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. Students of Oberlin Conservatory enter a very broad network within the music world, as the school's alumni...
. She received her Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in oceanography
Oceanography
Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
from the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences
Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences
The Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences focuses on marine science-related education and research. IMCS was founded in 1993 on the Cook Campus at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. IMCS is the home of LEO-15, more formally known as the Long-term Ecosystem Observatory...
at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in 2006 with a dissertation titled The Role and Evolution of Superoxide Dismutases in Algae.
Career
Wolfe-Simon's research focuses on evolutionary microbiologyMicrobiology
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
and exotic metabolic pathways. At a conference in 2008 and subsequent 2009 paper, Wolfe-Simon and colleagues proposed that arsenate
Arsenate
The arsenate ion is AsO43−.An arsenate is any compound that contains this ion. Arsenates are salts or esters of arsenic acid.The arsenic atom in arsenate has a valency of 5 and is also known as pentavalent arsenic or As[V]....
could serve as a substitute for phosphate
Phosphate
A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
in various forms of biochemistry. As late as March 2010, she had been hinting of some shadow biosphere
Shadow biosphere
The term "shadow biosphere" was coined by Carol Cleland and Shelley Copley. A shadow biosphere is a hypothetical microbial biosphere of Earth that uses radically different biochemical and molecular processes than currently known life...
results to the press. According to Paul Davies
Paul Davies
Paul Charles William Davies, AM is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, currently a professor at Arizona State University as well as the Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science...
, who coauthored that initial report, Wolfe-Simon was the one who had the critical insight that arsenic might be able to substitute for phosphorus.
Wolfe-Simon then led a search for such an organism by targeting the naturally occurring arsenic-rich Mono Lake
Mono Lake
Mono Lake is a large, shallow saline lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in a basin that has no outlet to the ocean...
, California. This search led to the discovery of the bacterium GFAJ-1
GFAJ-1
GFAJ-1 is a strain of rod-shaped bacterium in the family Halomonadaceae. The extremophile was isolated from the hypersaline and alkaline Mono Lake in eastern California by a research team led by NASA astrobiologist Felisa Wolfe-Simon...
, which her team proposes is able to incorporate arsenate
Arsenate
The arsenate ion is AsO43−.An arsenate is any compound that contains this ion. Arsenates are salts or esters of arsenic acid.The arsenic atom in arsenate has a valency of 5 and is also known as pentavalent arsenic or As[V]....
as a substitute for a small percentage of the typical phosphate
Phosphate
A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
in its DNA and other essential biomolecules. If correct, this would be the only known organism to be capable of replacing phosphorus in its DNA and other vital biochemical functions. The Science publication and an hour-long December 2, 2010 NASA news conference were publicized and led to "wild speculations on the Web about extraterrestrial life". Wolfe-Simon was the only one of the paper's authors at that news conference. The news conference was promptly met with criticism by scientists and journalists. In the following month, Wolfe-Simon (and her co-authors and NASA) responded to criticisms through an online FAQ and an exclusive interview with a Science reporter, but also announced they would not respond further outside of scientific peer-review. Wolfe-Simon left USGS in May 2011 to pursue her research elsewhere. Wolfe-Simon claims she did not leave voluntarily, but was "effectively evicted" from the USGS group.
The Science article "A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus" appeared in the June 3, 2011 print version of Science; it had remained on the "Publication ahead of print" ScienceXpress page for six months after acceptance for publication.
Awarded fellowships and funding
In 2006 Wolfe-Simon was awarded a National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to support work done at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
. In 2010, she received a Kavli Fellowship from the United States National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
. Wolfe-Simon is currently a NASA Astrobiology Research Fellow.
Publications
- F. Wolfe, K. Kroeger and I. Valiela (1999). Increased lability of estuarine dissolved organic nitrogen from urbanized watersheds. Biological Bulletin. 197:290-292.
- F. Wolfe-Simon (2006). The Role and Evolution of Superoxide Dismutases in Algae. Ph.D. Thesis. Rutgers Graduate Program in Oceanography.
- J.B. Glass, F. Wolfe-Simon, and A.D. Anbar (2009). Coevolution of marine metal availability and nitrogen assimilation in cyanobacteria and algae. Geobiology. 7: 100-123.
- F. Wolfe-Simon, P.C.W. Davies and A.D. Anbar (2009). Did nature also choose Arsenic? International Journal of Astrobiology. 8: 69-74.
- R.S. Oremland, C.W. Saltikov, F. Wolfe-Simon, and J.F. Stolz (2009). Arsenic in the evolution of Earth and extraterrestrial ecosystems. Geomicrobiology Journal. 26: 522 - 536.
- J.B. Glass, F. Wolfe-Simon, J.J. Elser and A.D. Anbar (2010). Molybdenum-nitrogen colimitation in heterocystous cyanobacteria. Limnology and Oceanography. 55: 667-676.
External links
- Official website
- Labyrint on Astrobiology. Dutch science documentary featuring Wolfe-Simon. six-minute segment with Wolfe-Simon.
- NASA-funded research discovers life built with toxic chemical one-hour press conference on NASA TVNASA TVNASA TV is the television service of the United States government agency NASA. NASA TV is broadcast by satellite with a simulcast over the Internet. Local cable television systems across the U.S. and amateur television repeaters may carry NASA TV at their discretion, as NASA-created content is...
2010-12-02, with Wolfe-Simon, Mary VoytekMary VoytekDr. Mary A. Voytek is a microbiologist with the United States Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia, and director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Astrobiology Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.- Fields :...
, Steven A. Benner, Pamela Conrad and James Elser