Alexandra Worden

Alexandra (Alex) Z. Worden is a microbial ecologist and genome scientist known for her expertise in the ecology and evolution of ocean microbes and their influence on global biogeochemical cycles.

Alexandra Zoe Worden
Worden in 2017
Born
Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States
Known forwork on Biogeochemical cycling, Evolutionary biology
Scientific career
FieldsMicrobiology, Oceanography
InstitutionsGEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, University of Kiel, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Doctoral advisorBrian Binder

Worden’s research focuses on the physiology and ecology of eukaryotic phytoplankton, unicellular organisms that are responsible for a large portion of ocean primary production (photosynthetic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide). Worden’s early work focused on methods development for directly investigating populations in the natural environment and their roles in the carbon cycle.[1][2] This theme has persisted throughout her research career.

Worden is recognized for establishing the importance of small eukaryotic phytoplankton known as picoeukaryotes.[3][4] She initiated this research through an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial Biology and expanded it thereafter by adapting multiple molecular and omic methods to characterize the evolution and ecological contributions of these photosynthetic plankton, which are now known to be major ocean primary producers. At Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a different research pursuit on microbial interactions, while in the laboratory of Farooq Azam, led to her work that overturned the idea that Vibrio cholerae existed primarily attached to copepods in aquatic systems.[5] This was considered important for understanding the ecology of this human pathogen and vectors for transmission of infective cells. During this period she and Azam introduced the concept of Ecosystems Biology (also spelled Eco-systems Biology, EcoSystems Biology or (Eco)-systems Biology), coining the term in a 2004 perspective.[6] The concept was embraced by the scientific community in several later perspectives,[7][8] and is being pursued by human microbiome-biologist Jeroen Raes and microbial oceanographer Edward DeLong. A Jacques Monod conference on Marine Eco-Systems Biology was initiated in 2015.[9]

Worden is also known for pioneering "targeted metagenomics" [10][11][12] wherein cells of particular interest are separated from the masses using flow cytometry (on a ship) and genomes are then sequenced from only the cells of greatest interest. Using this approach Worden and collaborators at the DOE Joint Genome Institute sequenced partial genomes from a key group of uncultured eukaryotic algae whilst showing the distribution of these photosynthetic protists in the ocean. Most recently, her lab adapted these approaches to study uncultured unicellular predators in the ocean, and discovered giant viruses that infect Choanoflagellates, a widespread predator group related to animals. Remarkably, the viruses bring to the non-photosynthetic, predatory host complete bacteriorhodopsin-like photosystems that pump protons.[13]

Her laboratory also investigates ancestral components of land plants,[14] evolutionary biology and distributions of uncultured taxa[15][16] and interactions between viruses and phytoplankton host cells. In 2015, she and co-authors called for a "rethinking of the marine carbon cycle".[17] Worden publishes in the fields of environmental microbiology, evolutionary biology, genome science and oceanography.

She is a proponent of STEM education and innovation and has highlighted the need for relevant "...role models to inspire greater diversity and creativity" in science.[18]

Career

Worden started her laboratory in 2004 as Assistant Professor at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in Miami, Florida USA. In 2007 she was recruited to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute on the U.S. West Coast while it was under the leadership of Marcia McNutt, who now serves as president of the US National Academy of Sciences. While at MBARI Worden also moved through the ranks to Full Professor Adjunct at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 2015 and 2016 Worden was a Fellow in Marine and Climate Science at the HWK[19] in Germany. She is now a Professor and Unit Director at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and University of Kiel in Germany.

Worden's early awards came from NASA and the US National Science Foundation prior to starting her own lab. Upon founding her lab in 2004 she was awarded a Young Investigator Award.[20] In 2009 she was named a scholar of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), later becoming a fellow of CIFAR (2011). She was selected as a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Marine Investigator in 2013,[21] an award given for her "creativity, innovation, and potential to make major, new breakthroughs".[22] She was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group of the American Society for Microbiology, in 2016.[23]

Education

Worden attended Wellesley College, where she received a B.A. in history, and performed a concentration in Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences coursework at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and received a Ph.D. from the Odum School of Ecology in 2000. While at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology she worked in the laboratories of the marine geochemist and paleoceanographer John M. Edmond,[24] the climate scientist Reginald Newell,[25] and the biological oceanographer Sallie W. Chisholm.

She had early exposure to engineering through computer programming and work after high school at BBN Technologies and with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology solar electric car project. At the time, the award winning MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Team[26] included several individuals who then became leading innovators in the tech world, including Gill Pratt[27] and Megan Smith, and the team was founded by Worden's brother, James Worden.[28][29][30] Engineering and technology innovation have remained as a persistent component of her oceanographic research.

Family

Worden has a partner and two children.[31][32]

See also

References
  1. "European Commission : CORDIS : News and Events : Green genes provide insights into climate change". cordis.europa.eu.
  2. DOE Joint Genome Institute (16 October 2008). "JGI Community Faces: Alexandra Z. Worden" – via YouTube.
  3. Worden Alexandra Z (2004). "Assessing the dynamics and ecology of marine picophytoplankton: The importance of the eukaryotic component". Limnology and Oceanography. 49 (1): 168–179. Bibcode:2004LimOc..49..168W. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.527.5206. doi:10.4319/lo.2004.49.1.0168.
  4. "Research" (PDF). cell.com.
  5. Worden AZ, Seidel M, Smriga S, Wick A, Malfatti F, Bartlett D, Azam F (2006). "Trophic regulation of Vibrio cholerae in coastal marine waters". Environmental Microbiology. 8 (1): 21–29. doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2005.00863.x. PMID 16343318.
  6. Azam, F; Worden, A. Z. (2004). "Oceanography. Microbes, molecules, and marine ecosystems". Science. 303 (5664): 1622–4. doi:10.1126/science.1093892. PMID 15016987. S2CID 10101482.
  7. Raes, J; Bork, P (2008). "Molecular eco-systems biology: Towards an understanding of community function" (PDF). Nature Reviews Microbiology. 6 (9): 693–9. doi:10.1038/nrmicro1935. PMID 18587409.
  8. Karsenti, E; Acinas, S. G.; Bork, P; Bowler, C; De Vargas, C; Raes, J; Sullivan, M; Arendt, D; Benzoni, F; Claverie, J. M.; Follows, M; Gorsky, G; Hingamp, P; Iudicone, D; Jaillon, O; Kandels-Lewis, S; Krzic, U; Not, F; Ogata, H; Pesant, S; Reynaud, E. G.; Sardet, C; Sieracki, M. E.; Speich, S; Velayoudon, D; Weissenbach, J; Wincker, P; The Tara Oceans, Consortium (2011). "A Holistic Approach to Marine Eco-Systems Biology". PLOS Biology. 9 (10): e1001177. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001177. PMC 3196472. PMID 22028628.
  9. "CNRS - Conférences Jacques Monod 2015". www.cnrs.fr.
  10. Cuvelier ML; et al. (2010). "Targeted metagenomics and ecology of globally important uncultured eukaryotic phytoplankton". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 107 (33): 14679–84. Bibcode:2010PNAS..10714679C. doi:10.1073/pnas.1001665107. PMC 2930470. PMID 20668244.
  11. Raven JA (2012). "Algal biogeography: metagenomics shows distribution of a picoplanktonic pelagophyte". Current Biology. 22 (17): R675–7. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.07.030. PMID 22974994.
  12. Martin, Cyrus (20 April 2015). "Biology's dark matter". Current Biology. 25 (8): R301–R307. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.03.010. PMID 26082952.
  13. https://www.pnas.org/content/116/41/20574.short?rss=1
  14. Archibald JM (2009). "Green Evolution, Green Revolution". Science. 324 (5924): 191–192. Bibcode:2009Sci...324..191A. doi:10.1126/science.1172972. PMID 19359572.
  15. redOrbit (21 January 2011). "Biologists Find New Group Of Algae Living In Fresh And Salt Water - Redorbit". redorbit.com.
  16. http://www.sea-technology.com/news/archives/2011/mar_resources/mar_resources0311.php Archived 2012-01-24 at the Wayback Machine SeaTechnology Magazine Article on newly discovered algae
  17. Worden, A. Z.; Follows, M. J.; Giovannoni, S. J.; Wilken, S; Zimmerman, A. E.; Keeling, P. J. (2015). "Environmental science. Rethinking the marine carbon cycle: Factoring in the multifarious lifestyles of microbes". Science. 347 (6223): 1257594. doi:10.1126/science.1257594. PMID 25678667.
  18. "Volume 27 Issue 04 Supplement - Oceanography". www.tos.org.
  19. https://www.h-w-k.de/en.html
  20. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2012-12-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) ASLO Bulletin Vol 13 (4) December 2004
  21. https://www.moore.org/article-detail?newsUrlName=gordon-and-betty-moore-foundation-identifies-16-leading-scientists-to-pursue-high-risk-research-in-marine-microbial-ecology
  22. "Mini Microbes Make A Big Splash - Good Times Santa Cruz". goodtimes.sc. 2013-02-13.
  23. Urban, Joanna. "78 Fellows Elected to the American Academy of Microbiology". www.asm.org. Archived from the original on 2016-09-11. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  24. "JOHN EDMOND". web.mit.edu.
  25. http://news.mit.edu/2003/newell
  26. https://www.mitsolar.com/hello-world
  27. "Gill Pratt Discusses Toyota's AI Plans and the Future of Robots and Cars". IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News. 2015.
  28. Wald, Matthew L. (1994-03-06). "Profile; In Quest for Electric Cars, He Adds the Power of Faith". The New York Times.
  29. "Solectria – Achieving Goals By Lowering Them". wordpress.com. 28 July 2014.
  30. "Solar car sets world record - The Tech". tech.mit.edu.
  31. "Alexandra Worden and the eukaryote tree of life". aaas.org. 10 June 2016.
  32. "Bio". asm.org.
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