Frances Arnold(1956 — ?)
Frances Arnold
États-Unis
8 min read
American chemist and pioneer of directed protein evolution. She received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018 for applying the principles of natural evolution to enzyme design. Her work is revolutionizing biochemistry and the pharmaceutical industry.
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« I've learned from evolution — nature is the best chemist. »
« The best way to create something new is to borrow from what already works. »
Key Facts
- Born on July 25, 1958, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (United States)
- Developed the technique of directed enzyme evolution starting in the 1990s
- First woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry since 2009 (co-laureate in 2018)
- Professor at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
- Her synthetic enzymes are used in the production of pharmaceuticals and biofuels
Works & Achievements
First experimental demonstration of directed evolution applied to an enzyme, published in PNAS. Arnold shows that by applying random mutagenesis and iterative selection, the activity of an enzyme in an organic solvent can be dramatically improved.
A series of studies on this key metabolic enzyme, yielding variants capable of highly selective oxidation reactions. These enzymes have direct applications in the industrial synthesis of pharmaceuticals.
A review article published in Accounts of Chemical Research summarizing the philosophy and methods of directed evolution. Cited thousands of times, it has become a foundational text in the field of protein engineering.
A publication in Science demonstrating that evolved enzymes can form silicon–carbon bonds, which are absent from natural biology. This feat opens the door to bio-based organosilicon chemistry of great industrial value.
Creation of a California start-up using evolved enzymes to produce isobutanol as a biofuel from biomass. A landmark example of academic technology transfer to the green energy industry.
International recognition of Arnold's twenty-five years of work on directed evolution, shared with George Smith and Gregory Winter. The prize validates the biomimetic approach as a central paradigm in contemporary biological engineering.
Anecdotes
In 1993, Frances Arnold conducted an experiment that would transform biochemistry: rather than painstakingly engineering an enzyme piece by piece, she applied the principles of natural evolution in the laboratory. She introduced random mutations into an enzyme's gene, selected the best-performing variants, and repeated the process — like Darwin on fast-forward. Within a few weeks, she produced an enzyme far more efficient than the original.
Before turning to biology, Frances Arnold was an aerospace engineer. After graduating from Princeton with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1979, she made a radical career change following her doctorate at Berkeley, captivated by the idea of applying engineering methods to living systems. This dual background — technical and biological — lies at the heart of her scientific revolution.
In 2016, her team at Caltech achieved an unprecedented feat: engineering enzymes capable of forming silicon-carbon bonds, a chemical reaction that does not occur in nature. The achievement, published in the journal *Science*, demonstrated that directed evolution could endow living organisms with entirely new capabilities, opening the door to a revolutionary green chemistry.
At the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry ceremony in Stockholm, Frances Arnold became the fifth woman in history to receive this honor, and the first American citizen to do so. During her Nobel lecture, she emphasized the collective contribution of her students and postdoctoral researchers: without them, twenty-five years of research on directed evolution would not have been possible.
Frances Arnold is one of the rare academic scientists to have founded several start-ups based on her discoveries, including Gevo in 2005, specializing in biofuels derived from biomass. She has also served on the U.S. Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, advocating for fundamental research to directly serve the energy transition.
Primary Sources
We have used sequential random mutagenesis and screening to evolve an enzyme for catalysis in a highly nonnatural environment. Ten amino acid substitutions identified in three generations of random mutagenesis resulted in an enzyme 256 times more active than the wild-type enzyme in 60% dimethylformamide.
Directed evolution uses iterative cycles of mutagenesis and screening to improve proteins. By mimicking the processes of natural evolution, we can generate proteins with properties far outside the range of what exists in nature, including new substrate specificities, activities in nonaqueous solvents, and altered thermostabilities.
We report here that iron-containing proteins can catalyze the formation of carbon-silicon bonds — something nature has never done before. Using directed evolution, we engineered a bacterial cytochrome c to produce organosilicon compounds with high selectivity.
I use directed evolution to optimize or create new proteins. By making and testing large libraries of genetic variants, I can find proteins with new and useful functions. The proteins discovered by directed evolution are now used in the synthesis of drugs, biofuels, and other chemicals.
Key Places
The institution where Arnold has worked since 1987 and leads her research laboratory in chemical and biological engineering. It is here that she developed and refined directed evolution, surrounded by researchers from around the world.
The university where Arnold earned her PhD in chemical engineering in 1985. Through her immersion in Berkeley's academic environment, she began exploring how engineering principles could be applied to biological systems.
Where Arnold earned her undergraduate degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering in 1979. Her engineering training profoundly shaped her methodical, quantitative approach to biology.
The venue for the annual Nobel Prize award ceremony, where Frances Arnold received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in December 2018, becoming the fifth woman and the first American woman to receive this distinction.
The birthplace of Frances Arnold in 1956, situated in the industrial heart of the American Rust Belt. This heavy-industry environment is thought to have shaped her interest in the practical, industrial applications of fundamental research.
