Jillian Banfield facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jill Banfield
FRS FAA
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Jillian Banfield at the Royal Society admissions day in July 2018
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Jillian Fiona Banfield
18 August 1959 |
| Alma mater | Australian National University (BSc) Johns Hopkins University (PhD) |
| Awards | Leeuwenhoek Medal (2023) Fellow of the Royal Society (2018) V. M. Goldschmidt Award (2017) American Society for Microbiology Fellow (2015) Australian Academy of Science (2015) Dana Medal (2010) |
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| Institutions | University of Melbourne University of Wisconsin–Madison University of Tokyo University of California, Berkeley |
| Thesis | HRTEM studies of subsolidus alteration, weathering, and subsequent diagenetic and low-grade metamorphic reactions (1990) |
| Doctoral advisor | David R. Veblen |
Jillian Fiona Banfield is a famous scientist from Armidale, Australia. She is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She also works at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Jill Banfield leads important research at the Innovative Genomics Institute. She also works with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her work helps us understand tiny living things (microbes) and how they affect our world. She also studies very small materials called nanomaterials.
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Early Life and School
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Jill Banfield went to the Australian National University. She earned her first degrees there between 1978 and 1985. Her studies focused on how rocks like granite break down over time. She became interested in geomicrobiology, which is the study of how tiny life forms affect rocks and soil. This interest started thanks to Dr. Tony Eggleton.
Later, she earned her PhD from Johns Hopkins University. For her PhD, she used very powerful microscopes. She studied how rocks change under different conditions. Her advisor was David R. Veblen.
Career and Discoveries
Jill Banfield is an earth scientist. She studies the tiny living things called microbes. She looks at how they live, work, and how many different kinds there are. She studies them in nature and even inside the human body.
In 1988, she was a Fulbright Student. She also became a MacArthur Fellow in 1999. She taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1990 to 2001. She also taught at the University of Tokyo from 1996 to 1998.
Since 2001, she has been a professor at the University of California Berkeley. There, she leads a program about geomicrobiology. She also does research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her research covers many topics. These include studying microbial DNA, developing tools for gene editing, and even looking for life in space. She also studies how microbes can help capture carbon to fight climate change.
In 2006, Jill Banfield encouraged another scientist, Jennifer Doudna, to study CRISPR. CRISPR is a special tool found in bacteria. Jennifer Doudna later won a Nobel Prize for her amazing work with CRISPR gene editing.
In 2023, Jill Banfield made history. She became the first woman to win the Leeuwenhoek Medal. This award is given out about every 10 years. It honors scientists who have made huge contributions to microbiology.
Understanding Microbial DNA
Jill Banfield helped create a new way to study microbes. It's called genome-resolved metagenomics. This method allows scientists to study the DNA of individual microbes. They can do this even if they can't grow the microbes in a lab. This has greatly improved our knowledge of how diverse microbes are. It also helps us understand how they have changed over time.
Expanding the Tree of Life
Through her work, Jill Banfield's team found many new types of bacteria and archaea. These are tiny, single-celled organisms. Their discoveries have changed how we see the Tree of Life. They added whole new branches to it. These new branches are called Candidate phyla radiation. This means we now know much more about how microbes have evolved.
She once said, "Most of the Tree of Life is a Complete Mystery." This shows how much more there is to learn about these tiny life forms.
Microbes and Minerals
Jill Banfield has also done important work on how microbes interact with minerals. She studies how these interactions can create nanomaterials. These are materials that are incredibly small. Her research also shows how microbes affect important geochemical cycles on Earth. These cycles control how elements move through our planet.
Editing Microbial Communities
Jill Banfield's research now includes new ways to change microbial communities. This can help with human health and fighting climate change. She works with Jennifer Doudna to develop amazing techniques. They combine metagenomics with CRISPR gene editing. This allows them to make specific changes to genes in complex microbial groups.
In 2023, they started a big project. It aims to use microbiome editing to solve global problems. For human health, they are looking at how to prevent childhood asthma. They also study other inflammatory diseases. For climate change, they are targeting microbes in livestock. These microbes produce methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Reducing these microbes can help lower agricultural emissions.
Awards and Honors
Jill Banfield has received many important awards for her scientific work:
- 2023 Leeuwenhoek Medal
- 2018 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
- 2017 V. M. Goldschmidt Award from the Geochemical Society.
- 2015 Elected to the Australian Academy of Science (International Member).
- 2015 Honorary doctorate from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
- 2013 Award of Dr. sch. h.c. ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
- 2011 L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science: North American Laureate.
- 2011 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science.
- 2010 Dana Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America.
- 2007 Elected Fellow, Geochemical Society.
- 2006 Elected Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology.
- 2006 Elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
- 1999 MacArthur Foundation Fellow.
- 1997 Mineralogical Society of America Award.
- 1988 Fulbright Scholar in Medicine at Johns Hopkins University.
