Sabeeha Sabanali Merchant

Through analysis of nutritional copper and iron signaling in Chlamydomonas, the reference system for most of her research, developed concepts of metal sparing and recycling in biology, which have influenced thinking in disciplines from biogeochemistry and biological oceanography to agriculture and human nutrition. In parallel, in the areas of photosynthesis and chloroplast biology, identified a multicomponent pathway involving heme and reductant delivery to the thylakoid lumen for the maturation of chloroplast c-type cytochromes, and discovered an elusive but long sought-after enzyme in chlorophyll biosynthesis. Led the Chlamydomonas genome project and is presently engaged in environmental genomic projects related to extreme environments (Arctic ice and acid lakes), as well as community resource building through phylogenomics and through generation and analysis of public, large-scale sequence datasets. Recipient of the Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal of National Academy of Sciences, Charles F. Kettering Award of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB).