Frances Arnold, Directed Evolution to Engineer Enzymes
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"I see a future in which nature gives us a helping hand. Instead of destroying the natural world, why can't we use it to solve the kinds of problems that we are facing?"
Frances Arnold is a chemical engineer and Nobel Laureate. She was born in 1956 in Edgewood, Pennsylvania and earned her bachelor's degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University in 1979. She went on to receive her PhD in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1985.
Arnold is best known for pioneering the use of directed evolution to engineer enzymes. This involves introducing mutations into enzymes and then screening for improved functions. She has used this method to design enzymes for applications like renewable energy and more environmentally friendly manufacturing processes.
In 2018, Arnold was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on directed evolution of enzymes. She is the first American woman to ever win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Arnold is currently the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). She continues to run a lab at Caltech focused on directed evolution and its applications.
