Linda Karen Medlin is a molecular biologist known for her work on

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...

s. She is an elected member of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Univer ...

Education and career

Medlin has a B.S. from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

(1970), and an M.S. (1977) and a Ph.D.(1983) from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. She has worked at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute in Germany (1991-2009),

Observatoire océanologique de Banyuls-sur-Mer The Observatoire océanologique de Banyuls-sur-Mer, also known as the Laboratoire Arago, is a marine station located in Banyuls-sur-Mer ( Pyrénées-Orientales) on the Mediterranean coast of France. The marine station is made up of several joint ...

in France (2009-2013), and the company Microbia Environment in France (2013-2016). As of 2008, she is an associate research fellow at the

Marine Biological Association The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (MBA) is a learned society with a scientific laboratory that undertakes research in marine biology. The organisation was founded in 1884 and has been based in Plymouth since the Citadel H ...

Research

Medlin's early work was with

Greta Fryxell Greta Albrecht Fryxell (November 21, 1926 – September 24, 2017) was a marine scientist known for her work on the biology and taxonomy of diatoms. In 1996, she was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. E ...

on the taxonomy of diatoms. She is known for her work on applying molecular tools to the study of phytoplankton, and she was the first to develop primers for

polymerase chain reaction The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to rapidly make millions to billions of copies (complete or partial) of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it (or a part of it) t ...

that targeted eukaryotic organisms, She applied this tool to taxonomic studies of multiple species of phytoplankton cultured in the laboratory. Her work extended into the ocean where she examined the diversity of phytoplankton in different regions including the Pacific Ocean, Antarctica, and the time series from the German research station at

Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

. Through the application of molecular tools, Medlin was able to define species differences in

coccolithophore Coccolithophores, or coccolithophorids, are single celled organisms which are part of the phytoplankton, the autotrophic (self-feeding) component of the plankton community. They form a group of about 200 species, and belong either to the kingdo ...

s and examine the evolution of diatoms. In 2007, Medlin led the group who discovered a new lineage within photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms, the

picobiliphytes Picozoa, Picobiliphyta, Picobiliphytes, or Biliphytes are protists of a phylum of marine unicellular heterotrophic eukaryotes with a size of less than about 3 micrometers. They were formerly treated as eukaryotic algae and the smallest member of ...

, and then presented the first cultured strain in 2013 but the group is not photosynthetic but heterotrophic and feeds primarily on cryptomonads and may keep their plastids, hence the chartarcteristic pigments first associated with the group.. More recently. Medlin has worked on the phytoplankton within harmful algal blooms and improving methods for monitoring such blooms using DNA barcodes as probes in electrochemical biosensors.

Selected publications

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Awards and honors

Medlin was elected foreign member of Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 1998. Four of Medlin's papers have received awards, one paper received the Luigi Provasoli award from the

Phycological Society of America The Phycological Society of America (PSA) is a professional society, founded in 1946, that is dedicated to the advancement of phycology, the study of algae. The PSA is responsible for the publication of ''Journal of Phycology'' and organizes an ...

, and three papers have received the Tyge Christensen Award from the

International Phycological Society The International Phycological Society is a learned society of phycologists. It was established in 1960. The Society publishes a bimonthly academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholars ...

. Medlin received the Yasumoto Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae in 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Medlin, Linda University of Texas at Austin alumni Texas A&M University alumni Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Living people Women molecular biologists Women botanists Year of birth missing (living people)