SD-CAB Researcher Spotlight - Susan Golden, Ph.D.

By Amanda Herman

Susan Golden is a member of the Faculty of 1000 Biology, a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences. In addition, she runs a lab at UCSD that studies circadian rhythms of gene expression in cyanobacteria. Golden summarizes her graduate school and postdoc experiences, how cyanobacteria are useful in the production of biofuels and how SD-CAB has shaped the direction of her research in this month’s SD-CAB Researcher Spotlight.

How did you decide that studying cyanobacteria was your passion?

I grew into it. I started working on cyanobacteria as a grad student. I wanted a "recombinant DNA" project, and when I started grad school in 1978, such approaches were still new and not used in most labs. I had a chance to join a lab in which the PI (Lou Sherman) had just done a sabbatical to learn basic molecular cloning methods with the idea of capitalizing on the then-recent discovery of a transformable cyanobacterium. My job was to develop a cloning system for that species, Anacystis nidulans R2, now known as Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, with the idea of using it to discover new genes involved in photosynthesis. Later I chose to do my postdoc in Bob Haselkorn's lab not so much because he worked on cyanobacteria, but because he was researching transcriptional regulation. I had expected to change organisms and research directions, but when I got there I still had "one last thing" I wanted to do from a loose end of my PhD work, and I ended up finding interesting new directions with S. elongatus. Thus, I just continued my PhD work on through my postdoc and into my independent research lab. The areas of emphasis and technologies have changed over the years, but I'm still working on my favorite little bug, the Anacystis that I was among the first to work with genetically. Being at the right place at the right time is my forte. I literally walked into Sherman's lab, while he was on sabbatical, within seconds of his postdoc writing (snail mail back then) to Lou: don't overlook the contribution a graduate student could make to this project.

How do cyanobacteria fit in with the production of biofuels?

Initially cyanobacteria were dismissed as biofuel organisms because they don't naturally store carbon as neutral lipids (oil droplets) that are easily converted to biodiesel. However, cyanobacteria are easier to genetically modify than are eukaryotic algae, and they can be engineered to make designer chemicals. Many species have growth advantages as crops: filamentous forms that are easy to harvest, some fix nitrogen, and they can grow at high pH conditions that kill off a lot of invading or grazing pests. Moreover, new biomass conversion technologies are making it possible to get useful hydrocarbons from biomass without requiring neutral lipids as a starting point. Thus, cyanobacteria can contribute in many ways to the enterprise.

What advice would you give to students interested in pursing research in academia?

Do it only if you love it. The challenge is that you have to constantly raise money just to do your job (to fund your lab), and many people end up depending on you to provide their salaries. That's a lot of pressure. However, it is fantastic to have the freedom to choose what to study (within reason), and to see the transformation that occurs in a student from the time he or she enters the lab to when they leave (as a scientist!).

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I like to read good novels. I'm open to a lot of genres, but they really need to be well written, with good character development and good use of language.


If you could have one famous scientist over for dinner (living or deceased), who would it be?

I think George Washington Carver would be a fascinating dinner companion.


How has SD-CAB helped further the success of your laboratory?

Being part of SD-CAB has swept me into applied microbiology and alliances with biotech companies. I'm learning a lot, and doing more as part of the group than I would have done on my own. I'm engaging in collaborations that I wouldn't have assembled on my own. The activities and interactions, and the growing reputation of SD-CAB around the world, are all good for my research program and for forcing me to expand my scientific horizons.

Amanda Herman is Ph.D. candidate at UCSD and a volunteer writer and outreach coordinator with SD-CAB. You can contact her at abherman@ucsd.edu.

SD-CAB Researcher Spotlight - Steve Mayfield, Ph.D.

By Britt Flaherty

Steve Mayfield
image courtesy of Mayfield Lab Website

  Steve Mayfield is the director of the San Diego Center of Algae Biotechnology, but he also runs a lab studying algal biofuels and spends his days teaching the public about the importance of our future in green energy. In this SD-CAB Researcher Spotlight, Mayfield tells us about how he became interested in algae, what he tells young scientists, and where he sees SD-CAB in the future.  


How did you decide that algal biofuels were your passion?
It kind of snuck up on me. I was happily working away on molecular genetics in algae and expressing recombinant proteins, and life was good. It was obvious that algae had the potential to scale up at very low cost. Even today we continue to work on therapeutic proteins, industrial enzymes and vaccines, all of these can be made in algae for a fraction of the cost to produce them in the systems they are presently made in.
We were working on algal genetic engineering in earnest since 1999. Back then oil was less than $20/barrel and climate change was something that people were talking about, but with no real urgency. That all began to change about 5 or 6 years ago, and by 2007 it had become the perfect storm: the cost of oil was going up fast and at the same time it was obvious that climate change was not only real but happening much faster then we thought possible. We either had to figure out how to generate renewable energy, or we would suffer some pretty severe consequences, both environmental and economic. Given algae's ability to turn sunlight and CO2 into liquid fuels, I decided we better give this a serious try.


What part of your career has gotten easier with time? What's harder?
I think the part that has gotten easier is convincing people that what we are doing in lab really matters to the world. I always knew it did, and so did some great post-docs and students that worked with me in the past, but I think many people dismissed algae as a kind of fringe scientific organisms that was maybe interesting, but not really something that mattered in their life. Now everyone agrees that bioenergy is THE science of the next decade, and it will matter in everyone's life.
I think what has really gotten harder is my ability to stay connected directly with research. It seems I spend more and more time talking to politicians and reporters and students, and less time in lab talking research. I honestly believe that my time spent educating students and politicians and the public is time well spent so no complaints on what I do, I just wish I had more time to do research.


What's the best part about your job? The worst?
The best part is still discovery. When someone from lab runs in with a great new result that is just exciting. For some reason knowing something that no one else in the world knows, at least until you tell them, is just a great feeling, I loved that when I started in science 25 year sago, and love it just as much today!
The worst part of my job is watching science get reduced to slogans and op-ed opinions, like it has become in the press and by many politicians. I now consider it one of my main jobs to call people on this behavior.


It sounds like you're pretty busy, but what's your favorite hobby?
Surfing and golf for sports and tuna fishing when time allows.


What do you tell young people interested in science?
First if you love science you WILL be successful, because when you love something you work hard on it and when you work hard you are almost always successful. The second I tell them is that the future is energy, in any form, fossil fuel, renewable you name it in the next decade anyone that makes energy will have something to sell, so if you want a job, work on energy.

How do you see SD-CAB shaping the future of algae fuels? What's the big picture?
SD-CAB has become one of the premiere algal research centers in the country and, perhaps, the world. Our plan is to make sure we stay that way, and to expand our research, education and training programs on every front.


Britt Flaherty is a graduate student at UC San Diego and a volunteer writer and educator with SD-CAB. You can contact her at blflaher@ucsd.edu.