Alison Gail Smith
{{short description|Professor of Plant Biochemistry}}
{{For|other people named Alison Smith|Allison Smith (disambiguation){{!}}Allison Smith}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Alison Smith
| birth_name = Alison Gail Smith
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSB|size=100}}
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| nationality =
| fields = Biochemistry
| workplaces =
| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|
- University of Bristol (BSc)
- University of Cambridge (PhD)}}
| thesis_url = http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=13899
| thesis_title = Chlorosis induction in haloblight disease of bean: a biochemical study
| thesis_year = 1981
| spouse = {{marriage|Sir Andrew Hopper|1988}}{{Who's Who | author=Anon|title=Hopper, Prof. Andrew | id = U20751 | volume = 1998 | edition = online Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2018|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U20751}}
| children = 2
| website = {{URL|www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/research/alisonsmith}}
}}
Alison Gail Smith, Lady Hopper {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSB}} is Professor of Plant Biochemistry in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, UK.{{EuropePMC}} Her research investigates the metabolism of plants, algae and bacteria, in particular vitamin and cofactor biosynthesis.{{cite journal|last1=Scott|first1=Stuart A|last2=Davey|first2=Matthew P|last3=Dennis|first3=John S|last4=Horst|first4=Irmtraud|last5=Howe|first5=Christopher J|last6=Lea-Smith|first6=David J|last7=Smith|first7=Alison G|title=Biodiesel from algae: challenges and prospects|journal=Current Opinion in Biotechnology|volume=21|issue=3|year=2010|pages=277–286|pmid= 20399634 |doi=10.1016/j.copbio.2010.03.005}}{{cite journal|last1=Croft|first1=Martin T.|last2=Lawrence|first2=Andrew D.|last3=Raux-Deery|first3=Evelyne|last4=Warren|first4=Martin J.|last5=Smith|first5=Alison G.|title=Algae acquire vitamin B12 through a symbiotic relationship with bacteria|journal=Nature|volume=438|issue=7064|year=2005|pages=90–93|pmid= 16267554 |doi=10.1038/nature04056|bibcode=2005Natur.438...90C|s2cid=4328049}}{{cite journal|last1=Stephenson|first1=Anna L.|last2=Kazamia|first2=Elena|last3=Dennis|first3=John S.|last4=Howe|first4=Christopher J.|last5=Scott|first5=Stuart A.|last6=Smith|first6=Alison G.|title=Life-Cycle Assessment of Potential Algal Biodiesel Production in the United Kingdom: A Comparison of Raceways and Air-Lift Tubular Bioreactors|journal=Energy & Fuels|volume=24|issue=7|year=2010|pages=4062–4077|doi=10.1021/ef1003123}}{{cite journal|last1=Ciulli|first1=Alessio|last2=Williams|first2=Glyn|last3=Smith|first3=Alison G.|last4=Blundell|first4=Tom L.|authorlink4=Tom Blundell|last5=Abell|first5=Chris|authorlink5=Chris Abell|title=Probing Hot Spots at Protein−Ligand Binding Sites: A Fragment-Based Approach Using Biophysical Methods|journal=Journal of Medicinal Chemistry|volume=49|issue=16|year=2006|pages=4992–5000|pmid= 16884311 |doi=10.1021/jm060490r}}
Education
Smith was educated at the University of Bristol where she was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry in 1977.Alison Gail Smith's {{ORCID|0000-0001-6511-5704}} 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.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Alison Gail|last=Smith |title=Chlorosis induction in haloblight disease of bean: a biochemical study |website=ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk|publisher=University of Cambridge |year=1981 |url=http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=13899}}
Research and career
Smith's research{{Scopus|7406758669}}
- {{GoogleScholar|MYRcFboAAAAJ}} investigates the: {{centred pull quote|...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.{{cite web|url=http://data.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/PlantMet/index.php/group-members/alison-smith/|title=Plant Metabolism at the University of Cambridge
|publisher=University of Cambridge|author=Anon|year=2015}}}}
Research in Smith's group is also investigating the potential for exploitation of algae for carbon capture and storage, algae fuel and algaculture.{{cite journal|last1=Grant|first1=Matthew AA|last2=Kazamia|first2=Elena|last3=Cicuta|first3=Pietro|last4=Smith|first4=Alison G|title=Direct exchange of vitamin B12 is demonstrated by modelling the growth dynamics of algal–bacterial cocultures|journal=The ISME Journal|volume=8|issue=7|year=2014|pages=1418–1427|doi=10.1038/ismej.2014.9|pmc=4069406|pmid= 24522262|bibcode=2014ISMEJ...8.1418G }}
- {{cite journal|last1=Davey|first1=M. P.|last2=Horst|first2=I.|last3=Duong|first3=G.-H.|last4=Tomsett|first4=E. V.|last5=Litvinenko|first5=A. C. P.|last6=Howe|first6=C. J.|last7=Smith|first7=A. G.|title=Triacylglyceride Production and Autophagous Responses in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Depend on Resource Allocation and Carbon Source|journal=Eukaryotic Cell|volume=13|issue=3|year=2014|pages=392–400|doi=10.1128/EC.00178-13| pmid=24413660 |pmc=3957581 }}
- {{cite journal|last1=Kazamia|first1=Elena|last2=Aldridge|first2=David C.|last3=Smith|first3=Alison G.|title=Synthetic ecology – A way forward for sustainable algal biofuel production?|journal=Journal of Biotechnology|volume=162|issue=1|year=2012|pages=163–169|doi=10.1016/j.jbiotec.2012.03.022}} Her research has been funded by the European Union,{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36835566 |title=UK scientists speak about Brexit pain |first=Pallab |last=Ghosh |authorlink=Pallab Ghosh |year=2016 |publisher=BBC |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721021101/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36835566 |archive-date=21 July 2016 |url-status=dead }} 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.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126170004/http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/person/6CEDC5A0-6F19-401F-96E3-9A4F36515C3F |archive-date=26 January 2017 |url=http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/person/6CEDC5A0-6F19-401F-96E3-9A4F36515C3F |website=gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |publisher=Research Councils UK |location=Swindon |author=Anon |year=2016 |title=UK government grants awarded to Alison Gail Smith |url-status=dead }}
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.
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).{{cite journal|last1=Moulin|first1=M.|last2=McCormac|first2=A. C.|last3=Terry|first3=M. J.|last4=Smith|first4=A. G.|title=Tetrapyrrole profiling in Arabidopsis seedlings reveals that retrograde plastid nuclear signaling is not due to Mg-protoporphyrin IX accumulation|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=105|issue=39|year=2008|pages=15178–15183|pmid= 18818314 |pmc=2567511|doi=10.1073/pnas.0803054105|bibcode=2008PNAS..10515178M|doi-access=free}} {{open access}} 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.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626163420/http://data.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/PlantMet/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Alison-Smith-CV-for-website.pdf |title=Alison Smith CV |first=Alison |last=Smith |year=2016 |url=http://data.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/PlantMet/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Alison-Smith-CV-for-website.pdf |archive-date=26 June 2022 |publisher=University of Cambridge |url-status=dead }}
Smith was interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili on The Life Scientific, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08bzl8y|title=Alison Smith on algae|publisher=BBC|location=London|first=Jim|last=Al-Khalili|authorlink=Jim Al-Khalili|year=2017}}{{quote|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.}}
Personal life
Smith is married to computer scientist Andy Hopper (Sir Andrew Hopper), with whom she has two children.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009155247/http://sounds.bl.uk/related-content/TRANSCRIPTS/021T-C1379X0010XX-0000A0.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2012|url=http://sounds.bl.uk/related-content/TRANSCRIPTS/021T-C1379X0010XX-0000A0.pdf|website=sounds.bl.uk|publisher=British Library|location=London|title=Professor Andy Hopper Interview|first=Thomas|last=Lean|year=2010}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Alison Gail}}
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Category:Alumni of the University of Bristol