Abigail A. Salyers

Abigail A. Salyers (1942 – 2013) was a microbiologist whose research focused on bacteria in the intestinal tract contributing to better understanding of antibiotic resistance and mobile genetic elements.[1][2] She was awarded numerous teaching awards, an honorary degree from ETH Zurich and was a past president of the American Society for Microbiology.[1][2]

Abigail A. Salyers
Microbiologist
BornDecember 24, 1942
Louisville, KY
DiedNovember 6, 2013
OccupationMicrobiologist

Education

Despite almost being expelled from high school because she was pregnant,[3][4] Salyers went on to receive her undergraduate degree in Mathematics in 1963 and a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics in 1969 from George Washington University, Washington, D.C.[1]

Career

Four years after starting her first academic position teaching physics at St. Mary’s College, she chose to switch her research to microbiology.[1][5][3][6] Salyers joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1978, was made the first female tenured professor in Microbiology at Illinois in 1983 and a full professor in 1988.[1][2] In 2004, she was named the G. William Arends Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology.[2]

Salyers studied bacteria which live in the human intestinal tract (Bacteroides) in particular with regard to their ability to harbor mobile antibiotic resistance genes and carbohydrate metabolism. [2] She published over 200 articles.[3]

Salyers was Co-Director of the Microbial Diversity Summer Course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA for the summers of 1995–1999.[1] She also was President of the 40,000 member American Society for Microbiology in 2001–2002.[1] Her tenure overlapped with the 2001 anthrax attacks when she advised the US Postal service about the safety precautions.[1]

Awards for research and teaching
  • 2009 National Graduate Teacher Award in Microbiology.[1][7]
  • Honorary Doctorate from ETH University in Zurich, Switzerland in 2001.[1][5]
  • Pasteur Award for Research and Teaching, the All-Campus Award for Excellence in Teaching and Golden Apple Award (three times) for Medical School Teaching at the University of Illinois.[2]
  • An endowed student scholarship for the Microbial Diversity Course was established in her name after her death.[1]

Selected publications
  • Wilson, Brenda A.; Salyers, Abigail A.; Whitt, Dixie D.; Winkler, Malcolm E. (2011). Bacterial Pathogenesis: A Molecular Approach. ISBN 9781555814182.
  • Wax, Richard G.; Lewis, Kim; Taber, Harry; Salyers, Abigail A. (19 September 2019). Bacterial Resistance to Antimicrobials. ISBN 9780367388072.
  • Salyers, Abigail A.; Whitt, Dixie D. (2005). Revenge of the Microbes. ISBN 9781555812980.
  • Saylers, A..A. (2004). "Human intestinal bacteria as reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes". Trends in Microbiology. 12 (9): 412–416. doi:10.1016/j.tim.2004.07.004. PMID 15337162.

References
  1. "Abigail A. Salyers". www.mbl.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  2. "The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign". mcb.illinois.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  3. Whitaker, Rachel J. (2018-04-10), "Abigail Salyers: An Almost Unbeatable Force", in Whitaker, Rachel J.; Barton, Hazel A. (eds.), Women in Microbiology, ASM Press, pp. 243–251, doi:10.1128/9781555819545.ch27, ISBN 978-1-68367-057-5
  4. "Interview with Abigail Salyers". Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  5. "Tagesberichte: ETH Life – das tägliche Webjournal" [Daily reports: ETH Life – the daily web journal]. archiv.ethlife.ethz.ch (in German). Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  6. "Abigail Salyers: 1942 – 2013 | Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology". www.igb.illinois.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  7. "American Society for Microbiology honors Abigail A. Salyers". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
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