Cheryl Y. Hayashi is a

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually speciali ...

who specializes in the evolution and functional properties of

spider silk Spider silk is a protein fibre spun by spiders. Spiders use their silk to make webs or other structures, which function as sticky nets to catch other animals, or as nests or cocoons to protect their offspring, or to wrap up prey. They can a ...

. She is a curator, professor, and director of

comparative biology Comparative biology uses natural variation and disparity to understand the patterns of life at all levels—from genes to communities—and the critical role of organisms in ecosystems. Comparative biology is a cross-lineage approach to understan ...

research at the American Museum of Natural History, while also serving as the director of the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics. She was a graduate of

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, a professor at University California Riverside, and a 2007

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...

Education

Hayashi graduated from

Iolani High School Iolani is a masculine Hawaiian name meaning "royal ''hawk''." It comes from the Hawaiian words ''ʻio'', meaning " Hawaiian hawk," and ''lani'', meaning "royal." It may refer to: * ʻIolani School, a private school located in Hawaii *ʻIolani Pal ...

in 1985 and was a member of the school's first co-educational class. She continued her studies at

, gaining a Bachelor of Science in 1988, Master of Science in 1990, and a Master of Philosophy in 1993. She worked with

Catherine Craig Catherine Craig (born Catherine Jewel Feltus; January 18, 1915 – January 14, 2004), sometimes credited as Kay Craig, was an American actress. Early years Catherine Jewel Feltus was born in Bloomington, Indiana, where she was a member of Phi ...

, including field work in Panama, becoming interested in spiders when she had the job of hand-feeding the professor's colony of tropical spiders. She was awarded a PhD in 1996, with her dissertation on the

systematics Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic t ...

of spiders using

ribosomal DNA Ribosomal DNA (rDNA) is a DNA sequence that codes for ribosomal RNA. These sequences regulate transcription initiation and amplification, and contain both transcribed and non-transcribed spacer segments. In the human genome there are 5 chrom ...

Career

After working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wyoming (1996-2001), Hayashi was a professor at

UC Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

from 2001 to the end of 2016. Her UC Riverside laboratory's work characterized spiders in the

spidroin Spidroins are the main proteins in spider silk. Different types of spider silk contain different spidroins, all of which are members of a single protein family. The most-researched type of spidroins are the major ampullate silk proteins (MaSp ...

gene family, including how silk is encoded and studying the basis of molecular diversity in spiders. A variety of techniques, including whole-gene cloning, genomics, biochemistry, and biomechanics, were used to study the evolution of spider silk. Hayashi worked with engineers and biomechanics to understand spider silk, and to develop

biomaterials A biomaterial is a substance that has been engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose, either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair, or replace a tissue function of the body) or a diagnostic one. As a science, biomateria ...

based on spider genetic information. Hayashi was a speaker at the TED 2010 Conference. She became curator, professor, and Leon Hess Director of Comparative Biology Research at the American Museum of Natural History in January 2017.

Awards

She was the recipient of the

MacArthur Fellowship Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

in 2007.

References

External links

"TED 2010 , Cheryl Hayashi: Smooth — and Strong — as Silk"
''Wired'', Kim Zetter, February 10, 2010 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayashi, Cheryl Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Yale University alumni University of California, Riverside faculty MacArthur Fellows American women biologists 21st-century American biologists 21st-century American women scientists