Alison Gail Smith

Alison Gail Smith FRSB is Professor of Plant Biochemistry in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, UK.[2][3] Her research investigates the metabolism of plants, algae and bacteria, in particular vitamin and cofactor biosynthesis.[4][5][6][7]

For other people named Alison Smith, see Allison Smith.

Alison Smith
Born
Alison Gail Smith
Alma mater
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 1988)​
[1]
AwardsFellow of the Royal Society of Biology (2012)[2]
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
ThesisChlorosis induction in haloblight disease of bean: a biochemical study (1981)
Websitewww.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/research/alisonsmith

Education

Smith was educated at the University of Bristol where she was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry in 1977.[8] She moved to the University of Cambridge, to do a Ph.D. investigating the role of a toxin produced by the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae in causing the symptoms of halo blight of green beans, which she completed in 1981.[9]

Research and career

Smith's research[10] investigates the:

...metabolism of plants, algae and bacteria, in particular vitamin and cofactor biosynthesis, using a wide range of techniques from biochemistry through molecular biology to genomics, coupled with mathematical modeling approaches. The knowledge gained from these studies is being used to explore the potential for metabolic engineering of high value products in plants and algae, and other biotechnological uses of algae, such as for biodiesel production. In parallel, studies of symbiotic interactions between algae and bacteria are providing insights into algal communities in natural ecosystems, and in dense cultures necessary for industrial cultivation.[3]

Research in Smith's group is also investigating the potential for exploitation of algae for carbon capture and storage, algae fuel and algaculture.[11] Her research has been funded by the European Union,[12] the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council.[13]

She is a council member of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom of the United Kingdom and as a member of the board of the National Institute of Agricultural Botany.[3]

Awards and honours

Smith was awarded a Leverhulme Trust Study Abroad Fellowship in 2001 and a best scientific paper award from the Rebeiz Foundation for Basic Research in 2009 for research on Tetrapyrrole profiling in seedlings of the Arabidopsis (rockcress).[14] In 2009, she was awarded an Erskine Fellowship from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, and she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB) in 2012.[2]

Smith was interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili on The Life Scientific, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017.[15]

Personal life

Smith is married to the computer scientist Andy Hopper with whom she has two children.[1][16]

References
  1. "Hopper, Prof. Andrew". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. 1998 (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription or UK public library membership required) (subscription required)
  2. Smith, Alison (2016). "Alison Smith CV" (PDF). University of Cambridge. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 January 2017.
  3. Anon (2015). "Plant Metabolism at the University of Cambridge". University of Cambridge.
  4. Scott, Stuart A; Davey, Matthew P; Dennis, John S; Horst, Irmtraud; Howe, Christopher J; Lea-Smith, David J; Smith, Alison G (2010). "Biodiesel from algae: challenges and prospects". Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 21 (3): 277–286. doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2010.03.005. PMID 20399634.
  5. Croft, Martin T.; Lawrence, Andrew D.; Raux-Deery, Evelyne; Warren, Martin J.; Smith, Alison G. (2005). "Algae acquire vitamin B12 through a symbiotic relationship with bacteria". Nature. 438 (7064): 90–93. Bibcode:2005Natur.438...90C. doi:10.1038/nature04056. PMID 16267554. S2CID 4328049.
  6. Stephenson, Anna L.; Kazamia, Elena; Dennis, John S.; Howe, Christopher J.; Scott, Stuart A.; Smith, Alison G. (2010). "Life-Cycle Assessment of Potential Algal Biodiesel Production in the United Kingdom: A Comparison of Raceways and Air-Lift Tubular Bioreactors". Energy & Fuels. 24 (7): 4062–4077. doi:10.1021/ef1003123.
  7. Ciulli, Alessio; Williams, Glyn; Smith, Alison G.; Blundell, Tom L.; Abell, Chris (2006). "Probing Hot Spots at Protein−Ligand Binding Sites: A Fragment-Based Approach Using Biophysical Methods". Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 49 (16): 4992–5000. doi:10.1021/jm060490r. PMID 16884311.
  8. Alison Gail Smith's ORCID 0000-0001-6511-5704
  9. Smith, Alison Gail (1981). Chlorosis induction in haloblight disease of bean: a biochemical study. ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge.
  10. Alison Gail Smith's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
    - Alison Gail Smith publications indexed by Google Scholar
  11. Grant, Matthew AA; Kazamia, Elena; Cicuta, Pietro; Smith, Alison G (2014). "Direct exchange of vitamin B12 is demonstrated by modelling the growth dynamics of algal–bacterial cocultures". The ISME Journal. 8 (7): 1418–1427. doi:10.1038/ismej.2014.9. PMC 4069406. PMID 24522262.
    - Davey, M. P.; Horst, I.; Duong, G.-H.; Tomsett, E. V.; Litvinenko, A. C. P.; Howe, C. J.; Smith, A. G. (2014). "Triacylglyceride Production and Autophagous Responses in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Depend on Resource Allocation and Carbon Source". Eukaryotic Cell. 13 (3): 392–400. doi:10.1128/EC.00178-13. PMC 3957581. PMID 24413660.
    - Kazamia, Elena; Aldridge, David C.; Smith, Alison G. (2012). "Synthetic ecology – A way forward for sustainable algal biofuel production?". Journal of Biotechnology. 162 (1): 163–169. doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2012.03.022.
  12. Ghosh, Pallab (2016). "UK scientists speak about Brexit pain". London: BBC. Archived from the original on 21 July 2016.
  13. Anon (2016). "UK government grants awarded to Alison Gail Smith". gtr.rcuk.ac.uk. Swindon: Research Councils UK. Archived from the original on 26 January 2017.
  14. Moulin, M.; McCormac, A. C.; Terry, M. J.; Smith, A. G. (2008). "Tetrapyrrole profiling in Arabidopsis seedlings reveals that retrograde plastid nuclear signaling is not due to Mg-protoporphyrin IX accumulation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105 (39): 15178–15183. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10515178M. doi:10.1073/pnas.0803054105. PMC 2567511. PMID 18818314.
  15. Al-Khalili, Jim (2017). "Alison Smith on algae". London: BBC.
    Alison Smith, Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, is a world expert on algae, which range in size from giant kelp to microscopic cyanobacteria. They are found all over the world from the Arctic to the Tropics, live in water and make energy from the sun by photosynthesis. She talks to Jim al-Khalili about their biology and their many uses, such as biofuels.
  16. Lean, Thomas (2010). "Professor Andy Hopper Interview" (PDF). sounds.bl.uk. London: British Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2012.
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