Episode Details

Frances Arnold pioneered the process of directed evolution — mimicking natural selection to create new enzymes that have changed everything from agriculture to laundry.

• SOURCES:
  • Frances Arnold, professor of chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. 

• RESOURCES: 
  • "Innovation by Evolution: Bringing New Chemistry to Life," by Frances Arnold (Nobel Lecture, 2018).
  • "Bacteria taught to bond carbon and silicon for the first time," by Aviva Rutkin (New Scientist, 2016).
  • "Directed evolution of cytochrome c for carbon–silicon bond formation: Bringing silicon to life," by S. B. Jennifer Kan, Russell D. Lewis, Kai Chen, and Frances H. Arnold (Science, 2016).
  • "The Director of Evolution," by Jennifer Ouellette (Slate, 2013).
  • "Engineered ketol-acid reductoisomerase and alcohol dehydrogenase enable anaerobic 2-methylpropan-1-ol production at theoretical yield in Escherichia coli," by Sabine Bastian, Xiang Liu, Joseph T. Meyerowitz, Christopher D. Snow, Mike M. Y. Chen, and Frances H. Arnold (Metabolic Engineering, 2011).
  • Gevo.
  • Provivi.

• EXTRAS:
  • "How to Help Kids Succeed," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2025).
  • The Levitt Lab.

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