Sarah Hake is an American plant developmental biologist who directs the USDA's Plant Gene Expression Center in Albany, CA. In 2009 she was elected a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

and elected member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

Early life and education

Hake lived in Iowa until she was 10 years old and then moved to California. She attended Grinnell College, graduating in 1975. As an undergraduate she accompanied a professor to the Botanical Garden in St. Louis which convinced her to study plant biology. After working as a waitress for a year after college, she was accepted into the PhD program at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

where she completed her PhD with

Virginia Walbot Virginia Walbot (born 1946) is an American agriculturalist and botanist who is a professor in the Department of Biology at Stanford University. She investigates maize development with a focus on factors involved in male sterility. Life Walbot firs ...

, studying, among other things, the proportion of the DNA in the maize genome which was present as multiple copies. She met

Michael Freeling Michael Freeling is an American geneticist and plant biologist. He is currently a professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of California. He is known for early work on maize anaerobic metabolism, developmental ...

when she was a graduate student and, impressed by research which considered outside the range of traditional genetic research at the time, wrote an NIH proposal to work as a postdoc in his lab at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

cloning the gene ADH1. After cloning the ADH1 gene, Hake and Freeling wrote and received a second grant to clone the Knotted1 gene, which they succeeded in doing in 1989. After completing her postdoc she was hired as a principal investigator at the USDA Plant Gene Expression Center in Albany, CA. She currently serves as the director for the center and is an adjunct professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Research

Hake considers her single most important scientific contribution to be the cloning of Knotted1 the first cloned plant gene with an effect on development. Postdocs working in her lab have gone on to clone other genes controlling maize development including terminal ear1, barren inflorescence2, fasciated ear2, tangled, and indeterminate spikelet1.

Recognition

* In 2007 Hake received Stephen Hales prize from

American Society of Plant Biologists The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is a non-profit professional society for research and education in plant science with over 4,000 members world-wide. It was founded in 1924, as the American Society of Plant Physiologists (ASPP). T ...

. * In 2009 Hake was elected a fellow of the

. * In 2009 Hake was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Personal life

Hake has two children born while she was a postdoc. Since she was a postdoc at UC-Berkeley, Hake and her family live on the Gospel Flat Farm near

Bolinas, California Bolinas is an unincorporated coastal community and census-designated place in Marin County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 1,483. It is located on the California coast, approximately (straight line dis ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hake, Sarah C Grinnell College alumni Washington University in St. Louis alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Natural Resources faculty American geneticists Living people Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Year of birth missing (living people) American women geneticists