Cheryl Kerfeld

Cheryl Ann Kerfeld is an American bioengineer who is Hannah Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University. She holds a joint position at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her research considers bioinformatics, cellular imaging and structural biology.

Cheryl Ann Kerfeld
Kerfeld in 2015
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles (PhD)
University of Minnesota
Scientific career
InstitutionsMichigan State University
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
ThesisBiochemical and structural characterization of proteins involved in photosynthesis : the pigment proteins of Chromatium purpuratum and cytochrome c6 of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (1993)
WebsiteKerfeld Lab

Early life and education

Kerfeld is from Minnesota. She attended Glenwood High School, where she was a competitive athlete.[1] She competed in track and high jump, and remains a record breaking jumper for Minnesota State High School Girls' league.[2] Kerfled studied English literature and Biology at the University of Minnesota.[3] She remained there for a Master's degree in English.[4] She moved to the University of California, Los Angeles for her graduate studies.

Research and career
Kerfeld and Markus Sutter remove a puck containing crystallized proteins at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source in 2017.

After earning her doctorate, Kerfeld joined University of California, Los Angeles as an National Science Foundation (NSF) postdoctoral fellow, where she worked to improve the undergraduate biology curriculum, eventually establishing the Joint Genome Institute Genomics and Bioinformatics Education Program.[5] The program teaches faculty members specialising in science and engineering to use bioinformatics tools.[6] Her research has focused on the structure and function of modular carotenoid-binding proteins. Such proteins are involved in the self-assembly of metaboloic modules and the mediation of cyanobacterial photoprotection.[7] She looks to engineer protein-based assemblies for the development of nanodevice and next-generation biomaterials.[3]

In 2019, Kerfeld was appointed head of a National Science Foundation research program that looks to engineer a synthetic cell without lipids.[8][9] The fabrication of such a cell requires input from several scientific disciplines, including physics, chemistry, biology and materials science.[8] In particular, it looks to understand whether lipids are necessary for cellular development and function.[8] Beyond academia, synthetic cell factories are used for the production of solar fuels (i.e. photobiological hydrogen) and jet fuel.[10] Synthetic, lipid-free cells could allow for the engineering of cells based on only the desirable macromolecules, making it more simple to recover useful products.[8]

Awards and honors

Selected publications
  • Appel, Aaron M.; Bercaw, John E.; Bocarsly, Andrew B.; Dobbek, Holger; DuBois, Daniel L.; Dupuis, Michel; Ferry, James G.; Fujita, Etsuko; Hille, Russ; Kenis, Paul J. A.; Kerfeld, Cheryl A. (2013-06-14). "Frontiers, Opportunities, and Challenges in Biochemical and Chemical Catalysis of CO2 Fixation". Chemical Reviews. 113 (8): 6621–6658. doi:10.1021/cr300463y. ISSN 0009-2665. PMC 3895110. PMID 23767781.
  • Wu, Dongying; Hugenholtz, Philip; Mavromatis, Konstantinos; Pukall, Rüdiger; Dalin, Eileen; Ivanova, Natalia N.; Kunin, Victor; Goodwin, Lynne; Wu, Martin; Tindall, Brian J.; Hooper, Sean D. (2009-12-24). "A phylogeny-driven genomic encyclopaedia of Bacteria and Archaea". Nature. 462 (7276): 1056–1060. Bibcode:2009Natur.462.1056W. doi:10.1038/nature08656. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 3073058. PMID 20033048.
  • Shih, Patrick M.; Wu, Dongying; Latifi, Amel; Axen, Seth D.; Fewer, David P.; Talla, Emmanuel; Calteau, Alexandra; Cai, Fei; Marsac, Nicole Tandeau de; Rippka, Rosmarie; Herdman, Michael (2013-01-15). "Improving the coverage of the cyanobacterial phylum using diversity-driven genome sequencing". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (3): 1053–1058. Bibcode:2013PNAS..110.1053S. doi:10.1073/pnas.1217107110. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 3549136. PMID 23277585.

References
  1. "Athletic Hall of Fame". Minnewaska Area School District. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  2. Charlie (2012-03-13). "H.S. Girls' All-Time Lists: High Jump". Down the Backstretch. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  3. "Cheryl Kerfeld". www.aiche.org. 2020-01-13. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  4. "Cheryl A. Kerfeld". bmb.natsci.msu.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  5. Ditty, Jayna L.; Kvaal, Christopher A.; Goodner, Brad; Freyermuth, Sharyn K.; Bailey, Cheryl; Britton, Robert A.; Gordon, Stuart G.; Heinhorst, Sabine; Reed, Kelynne; Xu, Zhaohui; Sanders-Lorenz, Erin R. (2010-08-10). "Incorporating Genomics and Bioinformatics across the Life Sciences Curriculum". PLOS Biology. 8 (8): e1000448. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000448. ISSN 1545-7885. PMC 2919421. PMID 20711478.
  6. Houwat, By Aliyah Kovner (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) and Igor. "Cheryl Kerfeld named AAAS Fellow". prl.natsci.msu.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  7. "Cheryl Kerfeld". Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. 2017-11-14. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  8. Communications, By Sarah Zwickle, writer, NatSci. "Unlikely gathering of scientists generates extraordinary research team, idea - the fat free cell". prl.natsci.msu.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  9. "NSF's 10 Big Ideas - Special Report | NSF - National Science Foundation". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  10. "Algal Cell Factories | Synthetic Genomics, Inc". syntheticgenomics.com. 2018-04-09. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  11. "Professor Wins Award". UC Berkeley Rausser College of Natural Resources. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  12. "US Department of Energy programs leader wins education award". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  13. "ASBMB Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education". www.asbmb.org. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  14. "AAAS Announces Leading Scientists Elected as 2019 Fellows | American Association for the Advancement of Science". www.aaas.org. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  15. Duque, Theresa (2019-11-26). "Six Berkeley Lab Scientists Named 2019 AAAS Fellows". News Center. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
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