Alison Butler

Alison Butler
Alma mater

University of California, San Diego

Reed College
Scientific career
Institutions University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Los Angeles

Alison Butler is a Distinguished Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She works on bioinorganic chemistry and metallobiochemistry. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Chemical Society.

Early life and education

Butler was fascinated by magnetism as a child.[1] She studied at Reed College, graduating in 1977.[2] Her father was one of the first members of the biology faculty at University of California, San Diego.[3] She started in immunology, but moved into chemistry to work with transition metals.[3] She worked with Professor Tom Dunner on An intramolecular electron transfer study: the reduction of pyrazinepentaaminecobalt (III) by chromium (II).[2] She earned her PhD at University of California, San Diego in 1982.[4] During her graduate studies, Butler read an article about metallo-enzymes in the New Yorker.[1]

Career

After graduating, Butler worked as a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Los Angeles.[4] She was appointed to the faculty at University of California, San Diego in 1986.[4] Here she was awarded an American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Research Award.[4] She was awarded the 34th University of California, Santa Barbara Harold J Plous Award.[5]

She looks to develop new siderophores, small molecules that bind iron in microorganisms.[6] She uses genomics to predict new siderophores, and bioinformatics to discover new siderophores . She explores how siderophores adhere to mica and look at how they can promote surface colonisation.[6] She identified that siderophores become sticky when wet, which may help to develop underwater adhesives.[1][7] Her current research considers the uptake of microbial iron, vanadium haloperoxidases in microbial quorum sensing and cryptic halogenation, bio-inspired wet adhesion using catechol compounds and the oxidative disassembly of lingnin.[6][8][9][10] Her research into the bioinorganic chemistry of iron is funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.[11][12] She studies how transition metal ions are used by marine organisms.[13]

In 2012 she became the President of the Society for Biological Inorganic Chemistry, and served until 2014.[14] She was made a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in July 2012.[15] She delivered the 2016 Douglas Eveleigh Endowed Lecture at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology.[16] In 2018 she was awarded the American Chemical Society Alfred Bader Award for her work on siderophores.[6][17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Noozhawk. "Organic Prize for UCSB Inorganic Researcher Alison Butler". Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  2. 1 2 "Alison Butler '77 Receives ACS Bader Award in Bioinorganic Chemistry | Chemistry News". blogs.reed.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  3. 1 2 "Alison Butler". University of California Research. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Alison Butler | Department of Chemistry - UC Santa Barbara". www.chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  5. ↑ "Alison Butler | Alison Butler Lab | Chemistry & Biochemistry | UC Santa Barbara". labs.chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Ironing Out a Puzzle". The UCSB Current. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  7. ↑ "Sticky situation: Researchers study, improve a small molecule that possesses an impressive ability to adhere in wet environments". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  8. ↑ "Microbial Iron Uptake | Alison Butler Lab | Chemistry & Biochemistry | UC Santa Barbara". labs.chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  9. ↑ "Vanadium Haloperoxidases | Alison Butler Lab | Chemistry & Biochemistry | UC Santa Barbara". labs.chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  10. ↑ "Bio-Inspired Wet Adhesion | Alison Butler Lab | Chemistry & Biochemistry | UC Santa Barbara". labs.chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  11. ↑ Alison, Butler,. "The Bioinorganic Chemistry of Iron". Grantome.
  12. ↑ "NSF Award Search: Award#1710761 - Bioinorganic Chemistry of Catechols: Siderophores, Adhesive Proteins and Biomimetic Analogs". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  13. ↑ Butler, Alison (1998-07-10). "Acquisition and Utilization of Transition Metal Ions by Marine Organisms". Science. 281 (5374): 207–209. doi:10.1126/science.281.5374.207. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 9660742.
  14. ↑ "Alison Butler begins term as President of SBIC | Alison Butler Lab | Chemistry & Biochemistry | UC Santa Barbara". labs.chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  15. ↑ "Alison Butler named in the 2012 Class of Fellows of the American Chemical Society | Alison Butler Lab | Chemistry & Biochemistry | UC Santa Barbara". labs.chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  16. ↑ "Alison gives the Douglas Eveleigh Endowed Lecture at the MBL sponsored by the Waksman Foundation | Alison Butler Lab | Chemistry & Biochemistry | UC Santa Barbara". labs.chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  17. ↑ "Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry: Alison Butler | January 8, 2018 Issue - Vol. 96 Issue 2 | Chemical & Engineering News". cen.acs.org. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.