Ursula Goodenough

Ursula Wiltshire Goodenough
Ursula Wiltshire Goodenough
	Ursula Goodenough in 1998
Born	March 16, 1943 (age 81); New York City, NY
	Scientific career
Fields	Cell Biology
Institutions	Washington University in Saint Louis
Doctoral advisor	Keith Porter

Ursula W. Goodenough (b. March 16, 1943) is currently a Professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. She earned her M.A. in zoology from Columbia University and in 1969 she completed her Ph.D. at Harvard University. Goodenough was an assistant and associate professor of biology at Harvard from 1971-1978 before moving to Washington University where she wrote three editions of a widely adopted textbook, Genetics. Goodenough joined the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) in 1989 and served continuously on its council and as its president for four years. She also served as president and is a member of The American Society for Cell Biology. She has presented papers and seminars on science and religion to numerous audiences, co-chaired three IRAS conferences on Star Island, and serves on the editorial board of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. Her best-selling book, The Sacred Depths of Nature, has resulted in her teaching the theory of Religious Naturalism around the world and also her participation in television productions on PBS and The History Channel, as well as NPR radio broadcasting.

Current Research

Goodenough and colleagues are studying the molecular basis and evolution of life-cycle transitions in the flagellated green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. They have cloned genes in the mating-type (mt) locus and genes regulated by mt that control the transition between vegetative growth and gametic differentiation and zygote development. These include genes responsible for mate recognition, uniparental inheritance of chloroplast DNA, and gametic differentiation, allowing them to study their function and their evolution during speciation.

The Epic of Evolution

Goodenough Lectures in team-taught Epic of Evolution (WUSTL)

Goodenough has taught a junior/senior level biology course at Washington University for many years. Recently she has helped to begin a new 200-level course that is cross-listed under biology, physics and earth and planetary sciences-- The Epic of Evolution. The course is team-taught by Goodenough and fellow Washington University professors Claude W. Bernard, Ph.D., professor of physics and Michael E. Wysession, Ph.D., associate professor of earth and planetary sciences. Bernard brings his expertise in physics, Goodenough her insight into cell and molecular biology and Wysession his knowledge of geophysics to the course. The idea is for students to contemplate the wide arch of evolution from The Big Bang and the subsequent expansion of the universe to the origins and progression of life on Earth. The course is predicated upon presenting the science of evolution along with challenging students to interpret the ways evolution has impacted other parts of life. Much of the inspiration of the course is drawn from Goodenough's work linking science with religion and philosophy through numerous publications and organizations of national symposia. Students are also required to read Goodenough's The Sacred Depths of Nature.

Goodenough and The Dalai Lama

In 2002, Ursula Goodenough was a member of a five-scientist panel invited by the Mind & Life Institute as part of an ongoing series of seminars on Western science for His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and his inner circle of monkscholars. Previous seminars explored particle physics and neuroscience. This was the Dalai Lama’s first foray into cellular biology. Goodenough found him a quick study:

"He’s very interested in science and really wants to understand this stuff. We’d been told that he knew about DNA and proteins, but when I started it became clear that he had very little background. Of course, one is left to wonder how many of the world’s leaders understand DNA protein.”

Goodenough was joined by scientists Stuart Kauffman, Per Luigi Luisi, Steven Chu and Eric Lander on her trip to India. Her 20-year-old son, Thomas Heuser, also joined her. Goodenough was invited back to Dharamsala, India to lecture again in 2005.

Books

File:SacredDepthsU2.jpg

[[The Sacred Depths of Nature]] (Oxford University Press, 1998)

The Sacred Depths of Naturepublished in 1998 by Oxford University Press
Genetics: Saunders (W.B.) Co Ltd, 2nd edition, 1984, ISBN-10: 4833701839

Selected publications

Lee, J-H., H. Lin, S. Joo, and U.W. Goodenough. 2008. Early sexual origins of homeoprotein heterodimerization and evolution of the plant KNOX/BELL family. Cell 30: 829-840.
Goodenough, U.W., H. Lin, and J-H. Lee. 2007. Sex determination in Chlamydomonas. Sem. Cell. Dev. Biol. 18: 350-361.
Lee, J-H., S. Waffenschmidt, L. Small, and U.W. Goodenough. 2007. Between-species analysis of short-repeat modules in cell wall and sex-related hydroxyproline-righ glycoproteins of Chlamydomonas. Plant Physiol. 144: 1813-1826.
Lin, H., and U.W. Goodenough. 2007. Gametogenesis in the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii minus mating type is controlled by two genes, MID and MTD1. Genetics 176: 913-925.
Ferris, P.J., S. Waffenschmidt, J.G. Umen, H. Lin, J-H Lee, K. Ishida, T. Kubo, J. Lau, and U.W. Goodenough. 2005. Plus and minus sexual agglutinins from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Cell 17: 597-615.
Umen, J.G., and U. W. Goodenough. 2001. Chloroplast DNA methylation and inheritance in Chlamydomonas. Genes & Development 15: 2585-2597.
Umen, J.G., and U.W. Goodenough. 2001. Control of cell division by a retinoblastoma protein homolog in Chlamydomonas. Genes & Development 15: 1652-1661.
Ferris, P.J., and U.W. Goodenough. 1994. The mating-type locus of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii contains highly rearranged DNA sequences. Cell 76, 1135-1145.
Ambrust, E.V., P.J. Ferris, and U.W. Goodenough. 1993. A mating type-linked gene cluster expressed in Chlamydomonas participates in the uniparental inheritance of the chloroplast genome. Cell 74:801-811.

Ursula Goodenough in Dharamsala, India with Richard Gere, Eric Lander and a Buddhist Bhikkhu

Preceded by Dick McIntosh	ASCB Presidents 1995	Succeeded by J. Michael Bishop

External links