Sara Goodacre
Sara Goodacre | |
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Born | Sara L. Goodacre |
Alma mater | University of Cambridge (BA) University of Nottingham (PhD) |
Known for | SpiderLab |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Evolutionary genetics Population genetics Conservation genetics Arachnology |
Institutions | University of East Anglia University of Nottingham University of Oxford |
Thesis | Studies on the evolution of Partula (1999) |
Website | arachnotts |
Sara L. Goodacre is a research geneticist and Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Genetics at the University of Nottingham.[1][2] She is the lead for the Open Air Laboratories,[3][Link to precise page] a citizen science project that engages people with the outdoor environment and Deputy Director of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Doctoral Training Programme.[4]
Education
[edit]Goodacre studied the Natural Sciences Tripos at the University of Cambridge as a student of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating in 1995.[5] Goodacre joined the University of Nottingham for her graduate studies and earned her PhD in 1999 for studies on the evolution of Partula land snails.[6][5]
Career
[edit]Goodacre joined the University of Oxford[7] as a research fellow in 1999.[5] She was a research fellow at the University of East Anglia from 2002. She was described by the BBC as Spider Woman.[8] As of 2018[update], Goodacre is based at the University of Nottingham, where she founded the SpiderLab in 2007 and leads the ArachNotts research group.[1][9] As a geneticist, Goodacre studies the evolution, population and conservation of spiders.[2] She monitored the mating behaviour and sex ratio of the linyphiid spider Pityohyphantes phrygianus with Bengt Gunnarsson at the University of Gothenburg.[1][10] She also studied the silk of Mygalomorphae spiders and the genetic diversity of spider silk genes[11][1] and found evidence for antimicrobial activity in the silk of common house spiders.[12] She found that Erigone atra, a pest controlling spider, uses long-distance airborne dispersal.[13] Goodacre contributed to the 2011 book Spider Physiology and Behaviour: Physiology.[14] In 2015 Goodacre reported that spiders could survive "sailing" across oceans.[15]
ArachNotts study the diving bell spider and its silk, which it uses to build a diving bell in which it stores air underwater, and have so far identified some of the silk genes used by this spider.[16][11] They also work on the relationship between spiders and the microbes that they carry with them, including the mating behaviour and sex-ratio of offspring, the ecology and biological control potential of spiders in agriculture and the use of genetic tools in the conservation of the endangered raft spider.[16]
Goodacre worked alongside chemists at the University of Nottingham to create functionalised spider silk that could be used for drug delivery, wound healing and regenerative medicine.[17][18][19][20] This involved attaching fluorescent dyes and antibiotics by click chemistry to silk synthesised by Escherichia coli.[17][21][22] The intention is this synthetic silk can slowly deliver antibiotics or be used as a scaffold to grow new tissues.[23] She has patented the synthesised silk (functionalised spidroin).[24]
Goodacre created the app Spider in da House.[25] She works to make people to be less frightened of spiders, as well as engaging the public in improving the UK's biodiversity.[26][27] In June 2017, Goodacre took the SpiderLab to a series of primary schools, working in partnership with the Zoological Society of London.[28] She appears regularly on the BBC.[29][30][31][32][33] She has contributed to The Conversation, The Guardian[34][35] and serves as an editor of both PeerJ[36] and Heredity.[37]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Sara Goodacre - The University of Nottingham". www.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ a b Sara Goodacre publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
- ^ "Home - OPAL". www.opalexplorenature.org.
- ^ "Contacts - Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Doctoral Training Programme". nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
- ^ a b c "Sara Goodacre". events.experiencenottinghamshire.com. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ Goodacre, Sara L. (1999). Studies on the evolution of Partula. jisc.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Nottingham.
- ^ Agnar Helgason; Eileen Hickey; Sara Goodacre; Vidar Bosnes; Ka´ri Stefa´nsson; Ryk Ward; Bryan Sykes (2001). "mtDNA and the Islands of the North Atlantic: Estimating the Proportions of Norse and Gaelic Ancestry". American Journal of Human Genetics. 68 (3): 723–737. doi:10.1086/318785. PMC 1274484. PMID 11179019.
- ^ BBC. "Spider woman". Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "People | ArachNotts | University of Nottingham". SpiderLab | ArachNotts | University of Nottingham. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ Gunnarsson, Bengt; Goodacre, Sara L.; Hewitt, Godfrey M. (2009). "Sex ratio, mating behaviour and Wolbachia infections in a sheetweb spider". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 98 (1): 181–186. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2009.01247.x. ISSN 0024-4066.
- ^ a b Strickland, Michelle; Tudorica, Victor; Řezáč, Milan; Thomas, Neil R.; Goodacre, Sara L. (2018). "Conservation of a pH-sensitive structure in the C-terminal region of spider silk extends across the entire silk gene family". Heredity. 120 (6): 574–580. doi:10.1038/s41437-018-0050-9. ISSN 0018-067X. PMC 5943517. PMID 29445119.
- ^ Wright, Simon; Goodacre, Sara L (2012). "Evidence for antimicrobial activity associated with common house spider silk". BMC Research Notes. 5: 326. doi:10.1186/1756-0500-5-326. ISSN 1756-0500. PMC 3443048. PMID 22731829.
- ^ Goodacre, Sara L; Martin, Oliver Y; Bonte, Dries; Hutchings, Linda; Woolley, Chris; Ibrahim, Kamal; George Thomas, CF; Hewitt, Godfrey M (2009). "Microbial modification of host long-distance dispersal capacity". BMC Biology. 7 (1): 32. doi:10.1186/1741-7007-7-32. ISSN 1741-7007. PMC 2706808. PMID 19545353.
- ^ Casas, Jérôme (2011). Spider physiology and behaviour : physiology (1st ed.). Amsterdam: Academic Press. ISBN 9780123877017. OCLC 769188140.
- ^ "Sail away, spider, Newshour - BBC World Service". BBC. 3 July 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ a b "Research | ArachNotts | University of Nottingham". SpiderLab | ArachNotts | University of Nottingham. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ a b "Antibiotic spider silk for drug delivery, regenerative medicine and wound healing". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ Rusu, Livia (8 January 2017). "'Click-Chemistry' Produces Antibiotic Spider Silk For Drug Delivery, Wound Healing". Tech Times. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "Could Spider Silk be used for Wound Healing? |". 31 January 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ Singh, Rajni. "Spider Silk for Drug Delivery, Regenerative Medicine and Wound Healing". www.biotecharticles.com. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ Harvey, David; Bardelang, Philip; Goodacre, Sara L.; Cockayne, Alan; Thomas, Neil R. (2016). "Antibiotic Spider Silk: Site-Specific Functionalization of Recombinant Spider Silk Using "Click" Chemistry" (PDF). Advanced Materials. 29 (10): 1604245. doi:10.1002/adma.201604245. ISSN 0935-9648. PMID 28028885. S2CID 22451798.
- ^ NatureWorldNews (10 January 2017). "Amazing! Scientists Create Antibiotic Spider Silk for Treating Wounds via 'Click-Chemistry'". Nature World News. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "Decorated Spider Silk Slowly Releases Antibiotics". www.aiche.org. 6 February 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ Modified spider silk, retrieved 18 September 2018
- ^ "Spider in da house – Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ Ash (28 November 2014). "Nottingham Science Blog: Interview : Dr Sara Goodacre on Spiders". Nottingham Science Blog. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "Dr Sara Goodacre - NBN Conference 2018 - National Biodiversity Network". National Biodiversity Network. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "University's SpiderLab opens unique Spider School at Derbyshire primary - The University of Nottingham". www.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "Mating tarantulas caught on film". 9 June 2009. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ McKenna, David (28 July 2014). "Perils of the English countryside". BBC News. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "The Spider House - Inside the Spider House - Spider House - BBC Four". BBC. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "A spider-proof shed?". BBC News. 15 September 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ Hogenboom, Melissa (23 October 2013). "How dangerous are false widow spiders?". BBC News. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "Sara Goodacre". The Conversation. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ Goodacre, Sara (9 August 2014). "Ask a grown-up: how do spiders stick to walls and ceilings?". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "PeerJ - Profile - Sara Goodacre". peerj.com. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "Heredity - Profile - Sara Goodacre". nature.com. Retrieved 21 September 2018.