Liz Sockett
{{short description|British microbiologist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Liz Sockett
| birth_name = Renee Elizabeth Sockett
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FRS|size=100%}}
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1962}}
| birth_place = Newcastle upon Tyne
| workplaces = University of Oxford
University of Nottingham
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
| alma_mater = University of Leeds (BSc)
University College London (PhD)
| website = {{URL|nottingham.ac.uk/life-sciences/people/liz.sockett}}
| awards = Daiwa Adrian Prize (2007)
| thesis_title = Biochemistry of motility and taxis in purple photosynthetic bacteria
| thesis_url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/941031856
| thesis_year = 1986
| fields = Microbiology
Bdellovibrio
}}
Renee Elizabeth Sockett {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE|FRS}} (born 1962) is a professor and microbiologist in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nottingham.{{Scopus id}}{{EuropePMC|ORCID= 0000-0002-6271-2674}}{{cite journal|last1=Sharp|first1=P. M.|authorlink=Paul M. Sharp|title=Variation in the strength of selected codon usage bias among bacteria|journal=Nucleic Acids Research|volume=33|issue=4|year=2005|pages=1141–1153|issn=1362-4962|doi=10.1093/nar/gki242|pmid=15728743 |pmc=549432 }} She is a world-leading expert on Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus, a species of predatory bacteria.{{cite journal|last1=Rendulic|first1=S.|title=A Predator Unmasked: Life Cycle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus from a Genomic Perspective|journal=Science|volume=303|issue=5658|year=2004|pages=689–692|issn=0036-8075|doi=10.1126/science.1093027|pmid= 14752164|bibcode=2004Sci...303..689R|s2cid=38154836}} {{closed access}}
Early life and education
Sockett was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1962 and completed her Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry at the University of Leeds in 1983. She moved to University College London (UCL) for her postgraduate study, and was awarded a PhD in 1986 for research on the biochemistry of motility and taxis in purple bacteria.{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|year=1986|first=Renee Elizabeth|last=Socket|url=https://catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/record=b1532239|publisher=University of London|website=london.ac.uk|title=Biochemistry of motility and taxis in purple photosynthetic bacteria|oclc=941031856}}
Career and research
After completing her PhD, Sockett worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (1986-1988){{fact|date=September 2018}} and then the University of Oxford (1988-1990){{fact|date=September 2018}}. In 1991, she was appointed as a Lecturer at the University of Nottingham and subsequently promoted to senior lecturer in 2001, Reader in 2004 and Professor in 2005.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/life-sciences/people/liz.sockett|title=Liz Sockett - The University of Nottingham|website=nottingham.ac.uk|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-09-29}}
Her research group started by studying the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Her interests in bacterial physiology and mechanisms then turned to understanding the bacterial predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.{{Cite news|url=https://www.asm.org/index.php/aam-fellows/aam-fellows/fellows-elected-in-2017/item/6585-elizabeth-sockett|website=asm.org|title=Elizabeth Sockett|access-date=2018-09-24|language=en-gb}}{{Cite journal|last=Sockett|first=Renee Elizabeth|date=2009|title=Predatory lifestyle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus|pmid=19575566|journal=Annual Review of Microbiology|volume=63|pages=523–539|doi=10.1146/annurev.micro.091208.073346|issn=1545-3251}} Bdellovibrio preys upon a wide range of bacteria including antibiotic-resistant pathogens that are harmful to human health. Sockett's lab have studied the genome of Bdellovibrio during the invasion of other bacteria.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08mb1fm|title=Liz Sockett on friendly killer bacteria: The Life Scientific |year=2017|first=Jim |last=Al-Khalili|publisher= BBC |website=bbc.co.uk|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-09-22}} Her group has identified several Bdellovibrio genes that make enzymes which break down important structural components of bacteria, and also secrete enzymes that break down chromosomes.{{cite web|url=https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/dr-liz-sockett-liz|title=Dr. Liz Sockett Interview|publisher= Naked Scientists|website=thenakedscientists.com|date=12 December 2004|language=en|access-date=2018-09-24}} She is studying the application of predatory bacteria like Bdellovibrio to treat antimicrobial-resistant infections.{{Cite news|url=https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/4c4856d9-69a5-43be-8908-e71de22c8afc/|title=Predatory Bdellovibrio bacteria-evolution of predation and application of predators against AMR infection|access-date=2018-09-24|website=talks.ox.ac.uk|publisher=University of Oxford|language=en}}
Sockett's group worked together with Alexandra Willis and her PhD supervisor{{fact|date=January 2020}} {{ill|Serge Mostowy|qid= Q40158170}} at Imperial College London to study Bdellovibrio predation in a zebrafish infection model.{{fact|date=January 2020}} Zebrafish infected with a lethal dose of the antibiotic-resistant human pathogen Shigella flexneri were given Bdellovibrio as a treatment. Together, the researchers showed that Bdellovibrio could kill the Shigella, working synergistically with the zebrafishs' own immune system to promote zebrafish survival.{{Cite journal|last1=Willis|first1=Alexandra R.|last2=Moore|first2=Christopher|last3=Mazon-Moya|first3=Maria|last4=Krokowski|first4=Sina|last5=Lambert|first5=Carey|last6=Till|first6=Robert|last7=Mostowy|first7=Serge|last8=Sockett|first8=R. Elizabeth|date=2016|title=Injections of Predatory Bacteria Work Alongside Host Immune Cells to Treat Shigella Infection in Zebrafish Larvae|journal=Current Biology|language=English|volume=26|issue=24|pages=3343–3351|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2016.09.067|pmid=27889262|pmc=5196024|issn=0960-9822}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/health-38106462/prof-liz-sockett-tells-inside-science-how-predatory-bacteria-kill-superbugs|title=How bacteria attack superbugs|author=Anon|year=2016|website=bbc.co.uk|publisher=BBC News|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-09-24}}{{Cite news|url=https://phys.org/news/2016-11-harnessing-power-predatory-bacteria-antibiotic.html|title=Harnessing the power of predatory bacteria as a 'living antibiotic'|website=phys.org|access-date=2018-09-24}}
Sockett and her group collaborated with Erkin Kuru at Indiana University Bloomington, using fluorescent D-amino acids (FDAAs) to illuminate the mechanisms by which Bdellovibrio invades its prey. They discovered that Bdellovibrio forms a small reinforced 'porthole' in the cell wall of its prey through which it squeezes and then re-seals from the inside.{{Cite journal|last1=Kuru|first1=Erkin|last2=Lambert|first2=Carey|last3=Rittichier|first3=Jonathan|last4=Till|first4=Rob|last5=Ducret|first5=Adrien|last6=Derouaux|first6=Adeline|last7=Gray|first7=Joe|last8=Biboy|first8=Jacob|last9=Vollmer|first9=Waldemar|date=2018-01-08|title=Author Correction: Fluorescent d-amino-acids reveal bi-cellular cell wall modifications important for Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus predation|journal=Nature Microbiology|language=En|volume=3|issue=2|pages=254|doi=10.1038/s41564-017-0087-1|pmid=29311645|issn=2058-5276|doi-access=free}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171005103458.htm|title=Predatory bacteria that engineer 'portholes' and paint 'frescoes' in harmful bacteria|website=sciencedaily.com|access-date=2018-09-29|language=en}}
She also has long-standing collaborations with Andrew Lovering at the University of Birmingham, who studies the structural biology of predatory Bdellovibrio enzymes, and Waldemar Vollmer at Newcastle University, who studies the structure of bacterial cell walls.{{fact|date=January 2020}}
As part of a Human Frontier Science Program grant, Sockett collaborated with Shin-Ichi Aizawa to study the Bdellovibrio interaction with Escherichia coli.{{cite web|url=http://www.hfsp.org/frontier-science/awardees-articles/shadowing-actions-predator|title=Shadowing the actions of a predator|website=hfsp.org|publisher=Human Frontier Science Program|language=en|access-date=2018-09-24}} Her strains appeared in electron microscope images in the 2013 book The Flagellar World.{{Cite book|title=The Flagellar World: Electron Microscopic Images of Bacterial Flagella and Related Surface Structures|last=Aizawa|first=Shin-Ichi|date=2013|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-0124172838|language=en|oclc=885024658}}
Her research has been funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), Leverhulme Trust and the Wellcome Trust.{{fact|date=January 2020}}
Sockett is a communicator and role model for careers in microbiology, which was recognised by the award of the Peter Wildy prize of the Society for General Microbiology in 2006, where her prize lecture was entitled Not Just Germs - Bringing Bacteria to Life.{{cite web|url=https://microbiologysociety.org/grants/prize-lectures/peter-wildy-prize-lecture.html|title=Peter Wildy Prize Lecture|author=Anon|year=2006|website=microbiologysociety.org|access-date=2018-09-23}}
Socket is an advocate for public engagement and science outreach.{{cite web|url=https://www.le.ac.uk/slcem/features/working-with-scientists-1.html|title=Biology CPD for Science Teachers in the East Midlands: Professor Liz Sockett|website=le.ac.uk|language=en-gb|access-date=2018-09-24}}
Honours and awards
Sockett was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to microbiology.{{London Gazette|issue=63714|supp=y|page=B10|date=1 June 2022}}
Sockett was interviewed on The Life Scientific by Jim Al-Khalili in 2017. Other awards and honours include:
- 2019 Elected a Fellow of The Royal Society{{Cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/liz-sockett-14125/|title=Liz Sockett {{!}} Royal Society|website=royalsociety.org|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-04-17}}
- 2017 Elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology
- 2007 Daiwa-Adrian Prize for Anglo-Japanese Science{{cite web|url=https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-12/uon-hfu120407.php|title=Honor for UK-Japanese research|website=EurekAlert!|language=en|access-date=2018-09-23|author=Anon|year=2017}}
- 2006 Society for General Microbiology Peter Wildy Prize{{cite web|url=https://microbiologysociety.org/grants/prize-lectures/peter-wildy-prize-lecture.html|title=Peter Wildy Prize Lecture|author=Anon|year=2006|website=microbiologysociety.org|access-date=2018-09-23}}
- 2000 University of Nottingham Lord Dearing Award{{cite web|url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/professionaldevelopment/learningandteaching/awards/dearingawards/ldawinners.aspx|title=Lord Dearing Award winners|author=Anon|year=2000|publisher= University of Nottingham|website=nottingham.ac.uk|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-09-23}}
- 2000 Royal Society / BAAS Millennium Award{{fact|date=September 2018}}
References
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Category:British microbiologists
Category:British women microbiologists
Category:Academics of the University of Nottingham
Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford
Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds
Category:Alumni of University College London