Felisa Wolfe-Simon
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Felisa Wolfe-Simon is an American
microbial A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic size, which may exist in its single-celled form or as a colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen microbial life was suspected from antiquity, with an early attestation in ...
geobiologist and biogeochemist. In 2010, Wolfe-Simon led a team that discovered GFAJ-1, an
extremophile An extremophile () is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e., environments with conditions approaching or stretching the limits of what known life can adapt to, such as extreme temperature, press ...
bacterium that they claimed was capable of substituting
arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...
for a small percentage of its
phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...
to sustain its growth, thus advancing the remarkable possibility of non-RNA/DNA-based genetics. However, these conclusions were immediately debated and criticized in correspondence to the original journal of publication, and were widely disbelieved by scientists. In 2012, two reports refuting the most significant aspects of the original results were published in the same journal in which the original findings had been previously published.


Education and early career

Wolfe-Simon did her undergraduate studies at
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
and completed a
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
in Biology and Chemistry and a
Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...
in Oboe Performance and Ethnomusicology at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She received her
Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
in
oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...
from the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
in 2006 with a dissertation titled ''The Role and Evolution of Superoxide Dismutases in Algae''. Later Wolfe-Simon was a
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
research fellow in residence at the
US Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...
and a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. In 2006 Wolfe-Simon was awarded a
National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...
Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to support work done at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
.


GFAJ-1 controversy

Wolfe-Simon's research focuses on evolutionary
microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...
and exotic metabolic pathways. At a conference in 2008 and subsequent 2009 paper, Wolfe-Simon,
Paul Davies Paul Charles William Davies (born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute ...
and Ariel Anbar proposed that
arsenate The arsenate is an ion with the chemical formula . Bonding in arsenate consists of a central arsenic atom, with oxidation state +5, double bonded to one oxygen atom and single bonded to a further three oxygen atoms. The four oxygen atoms orien ...
() could serve as a substitute for
phosphate Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthop ...
() in various forms of biochemistry. According to
Paul Davies Paul Charles William Davies (born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute ...
, Wolfe-Simon was the one who had the "critical insight" that arsenic might be able to substitute for phosphorus. As late as March 2010, she had been hinting of some shadow biosphere results to the press. Wolfe-Simon then led a search for such an organism by targeting the naturally occurring arsenic-rich
Mono Lake Mono Lake ( ) is a Salt lake, saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes Hypersaline lake, high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake ...
, California. This search led to the discovery of the bacterium GFAJ-1, which her team claimed in a ''
Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
'' on-line article in December 2010 was able to incorporate
arsenate The arsenate is an ion with the chemical formula . Bonding in arsenate consists of a central arsenic atom, with oxidation state +5, double bonded to one oxygen atom and single bonded to a further three oxygen atoms. The four oxygen atoms orien ...
as a substitute for a small percentage of the typical
phosphate Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthop ...
in its DNA and other essential biomolecules. If correct, this would be the only known organism to be capable of replacing phosphorus in its DNA and other vital biochemical functions. The ''Science'' publication and an hour-long December 2, 2010 NASA news conference were publicized and led to "wild speculations on the Web about extraterrestrial life". Wolfe-Simon was the only one of the paper's authors at that news conference. The news conference was promptly met with criticism by scientists and journalists. In the following month, Wolfe-Simon (and her co-authors and NASA) responded to criticisms through an online FAQ and an exclusive interview with a ''Science'' reporter, but also announced they would not respond further outside scientific peer-review. In April 2011 ''Time'' magazine named Wolfe-Simon one of that year's
Time 100 ''Time'' 100 is a list of the top 100 most influential people, assembled by the American news magazine ''Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, politicians, and journalists, the list is now a highly ...
people. The ''Science'' article "A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus" appeared in the June 3, 2011 print version of ''Science''; it had remained on the "Publication ahead of print" ScienceXpress page for six months after acceptance for publication. However, Rosemary Redfield and other researchers from the University of British Columbia and Princeton University performed studies in which they used a variety of different techniques to investigate the presence of arsenic in the DNA of GFAJ-1 and published their results in early 2012. The group found no detectable arsenic in the DNA of the bacterium. In addition, they found that arsenate did not help the strain grow when phosphate was limited, further suggesting that arsenate does not replace the role of phosphate. Following the publication of the articles challenging the conclusions of the original ''Science'' article first describing GFAJ-1, David Sanders on the website Retraction Watch argued that the original article should be retracted because of misrepresentation of critical data. In October 2024, ''Science'' editor
Holden Thorp Herbert Holden Thorp (born August 16, 1964) is an American chemist, professor and entrepreneur. He is a professor of chemistry at George Washington University and Editor and Chief of Science (journal). He was the tenth chancellor of the Universit ...
notified the article's authors of its intention to retract, arguing that, whereas formerly only misconduct justified retraction, current practice allows it for unreliablity.


Later career

Wolfe-Simon left
USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...
in May 2011. She maintains she did not leave voluntarily, but was "effectively evicted" from the USGS group. She briefly worked at
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in the Berkeley Hills, hills of Berkeley, California, United States. Established i ...
but the GFAJ-1 controversy impaired her ability to obtain funding and she left the research career-path. She subsequently worked mainly as a performer and teacher of the oboe, and partly in science-adjacent roles including organising seminars at Mills College at Northeastern University, consulting for
biotech Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists in the field are kn ...
startup A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to ...
s, and
industrial microbiology Industrial microbiology is a branch of biotechnology that applies microbial sciences to create industrial products in mass quantities, often using Microbial cell factory, microbial cell factories. There are multiple ways to manipulate a microorgani ...
for bakeries. In 2024 she returned part time to scientific research after receiving funding "through a NASA workshop" to investigate
magnetotactic bacteria Magnetotactic bacteria (or MTB) are a polyphyletic group of bacteria that orient themselves along the magnetic field lines of Earth's magnetic field. Discovered in 1963 by Salvatore Bellini and rediscovered in 1975 by Richard Blakemore, this alig ...
.


See also

*
Hypothetical types of biochemistry Several forms of biochemistry are agreed to be scientifically viable but are not proven to exist at this time. The kinds of life, living organisms currently known on Earth all use carbon compounds for basic structural and metabolism, metabolic fu ...
* Prebiotic arsenic


References


External links


Official website
* ''Labyrint'' o
Astrobiology
Dutch science documentary featuring Wolfe-Simon
six-minute segment with Wolfe-Simon

NASA-funded research discovers life built with toxic chemical
one-hour press conference on NASA TV 2010-12-02, with Wolfe-Simon, Mary Voytek, Steven A. Benner, Pamela Conrad and James Elser {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe-Simon, Felisa American women biochemists Geomicrobiologists Living people NASA people National Science Foundation Oberlin College alumni Rutgers University alumni United States Geological Survey personnel Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women scientists