Frances Arnold In nature, evolution by natural selection can lead to proteins (including enzymes) well-suited to carry out biological tasks, but natural selection can only act on existing sequence variations (mutations) and typically occurs over long time periods.
This strategy has broad implications because it can be used to design proteins for a wide variety of applications.[13] For example, she has used directed evolution to design enzymes that can be used to produce renewable fuels and pharmaceutical compounds with less harm to the environment.
在高中時期就從匹茲堡殺去華盛頓 DC 參加反戰運動(越南戰爭),之後就在 DC 開計程車跟當雞尾酒女郎維生。
大學考入普林斯頓大學機械系,成為那屆唯一的女生。
之後當了太陽能發電廠的工程師,然後遇到了雷根政府能源政策轉向 34 歲重回校園到了加州大學伯克利分校改念化學。
後來生物技術出現,博士後轉到加州理工學院再度轉行生物化學。
她的研究路線其實不太受同行待見,她的同行都在研究"尖端"的蛋白質合成,而她卻打算用"老辦法"(人類已經用上幾千年) - 育種。
「紳士才不靠隨機突變碰運氣,那不科學!」
「老娘又不是紳士,而且我也不是科學家,這個方向簡單實用而且能賺錢!」
所以她真的開了家公司…
Gevo | Leading the Change to Low Carbon Fuels and Ch...
Frances Arnold
In nature, evolution by natural selection can lead to proteins (including enzymes) well-suited to carry out biological tasks, but natural selection can only act on existing sequence variations (mutations) and typically occurs over long time periods.