Sharon Rugel Long (born March 2, 1951) is an American plant

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually specialize ...

. She is the Steere-Pfizer Professor of Biological Science in the Department of Biology at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

, and the Principal Investigator of the Long Laboratory at Stanford. Long studies the symbiosis between bacteria and plants, in particular the relationship of nitrogen-fixing bacteria to legumes. Her work has applications for

energy conservation Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavior to use less service (f ...

and sustainable agriculture. She is a 1992

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

recipient, and became a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1993.

Early life and education

Sharon Rugel Long was born on to Harold Eugene and Florence Jean (Rugel) Long. She attended George Washington High School in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Long spent a year at

Harvey Mudd College Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private college in Claremont, California, focused on science and engineering. It is part of the Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds and resources. The college enrolls 902 undergraduate students ...

before becoming one of the first women to attend

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

in September 1970. She completed a double major in

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

and

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than F ...

in the Independent Studies Program, and obtained her B.S. in 1973. Long went on to study

and

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar work ...

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, receiving her Ph.D. in 1979. She began her research on plants and symbiosis while a postdoc at Frederick M Ausubels lab at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

Career and research

Long joined the Stanford University faculty in 1982 as an assistant professor, rising to associate professor in 1987, and full professor in 1992. From 1994-2001 she was also an Investigator of the

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, fi ...

. She currently holds the Steere-Pfizer chair in Biological Sciences at Stanford. From 1993-1996 she was part of the National Research Councils Committee on Undergraduate Science Education. She served as Dean of Humanities and Sciences at

from 2001 to 2007. In September 2008 she was identified as one of 5 science advisors for Democratic presidential candidate

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

. In 2011, she was appointed to the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science by President Obama. Long identified and cloned genes that allow bacteria to find and enter certain plants in which they live symbiotically. She has examined the interactions of ''Rhizobium'' bacteria with

legumes A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock for ...

such as

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as ...

soybeans The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu ...

and peas, in which they enhance nitrogen production. She has genetically modified bacteria to make them more effective at entering host plants and producing nitrogen. Such initiatives may enable farmers to reduce nitrogen fertilizer use and runoff of fertilizer into local water supplies. Her current research uses molecular, genetic, and biochemical techniques to study the early stages of

symbiosis Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or para ...

between '' Sinorhizobium meliloti'' and its host plants in the genus ''

Medicago ''Medicago'' is a genus of flowering plants, commonly known as medick or burclover, in the legume family (Fabaceae). It contains at least 87 species and is distributed mainly around the Mediterranean basin. The best-known member of the genus is ...

''. ''Rhizobium'' cells recognize and form nodules on their plant hosts. Her group discovered that a

flavone Flavone is an organic compound with the formula . A white solid, flavone is a derivative of chromone with a phenyl (Ph) substituent adjacent to the ether group. The compound is of little direct practical importance, but susbstituted derivatives, ...

(

luteolin Luteolin is a flavone, a type of flavonoid, with a yellow crystalline appearance. Luteolin is the principal yellow dye compound that is obtained from the plant ''Reseda luteola'', which has been used as a source of the dye since at least the fi ...

) derived from

seed extracts is necessary for activation of nodulation genes (nod ABC) in '' Sinorhizobium meliloti''. They proved that some nod genes encode enzymes that synthesize Nod Factor. They discovered that plant root hair cells show rapid ionic changes including calcium spiking in response to specific Nod Factors. With colleagues, they have identified plant genes for symbiosis, and correlated these with specific stages in nodule development.

Selected publications

* * *

Awards and honors

* 1984-1989,

Presidential Young Investigator Award The Presidential Young Investigator Award (PYI) was awarded by the National Science Foundation of the United States Federal Government. The program operated from 1984 to 1991, and was replaced by the NSF Young Investigator (NYI) Awards and Presid ...

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

* 1985, Shell Research Foundation Award * 1989, Charles Albert Shull Award, American Society of Plant Physiology * 1992-1997, MacArthur Foundation Fellowship * 1993, member,

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

* 1994, fellow,

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

* 2000, member,

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

* 2002, Wilbur Cross Medal in Biology, Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (highest alumni honor) * 2007, fellow, American Society of Plant Biologists * 2019

Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology The Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "in recognition of excellence in the field of microbiology." Named after Selman Waksman, it was first awarded in 1968. A $5000 prize is included in t ...

* Recognized as a Pioneer Member of the American Society of Plant Biologists.

Personal life

Long married her college boyfriend Harold James McGee on July 7, 1979 and divorced in 2004. They had two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Sharon R. Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Harvey Mudd College alumni California Institute of Technology alumni Yale University alumni Harvard University alumni Stanford University Department of Biology faculty Living people MacArthur Fellows Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 1951 births Members of the American Philosophical Society