Abigail Salyers

Following Nature’s Lead Into Unexpected Places
University of Illinois, Urbana

Summary
The process of scientific discovery need not be a rigid and orderly process over which the scientist has complete control. Nor does it consist, in my experience, of a few “aha” moments in which everything comes suddenly and blindingly together. Of course, scientific discovery can proceed in a perfectly orchestrated fashion, and it does for many scientists, but this happens only if one ignores the detours and distractions that routinely present themselves as a project progresses. I am one of those scientists who prefer to follow nature’s lead, even if it takes me in directions I did not anticipate, even if it leads me in directions that might not be part of a calculated program for my advancement in conventional scientific circles. In my presentation, I describe one such journey, which led from an investigation into the transfer of a segment of DNA from one bacterium to another and ended up at a pig farm and in testimony before the FDA. It illustrates not only the ways in which a scientific program can veer in unexpected directions, but also how scientists who are willing to do so can be pulled into policy debates that are as much political and economic as scientific and who make this choice because it seems to be in the best interests of the public, and how they can do this without sacrificing scientific purity. This statement may seem very noble, but to be honest, occasional immersions into the real world can also be interesting and stimulating in a way that is different to the normal experience of science in the ivory tower.

Biography
Professor Abigail Salyers earned her Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics at George Washington University. She was an Assistant Professor, then Associate Professor, at St. Mary’s College, Maryland. Subsequently, she trained in Microbiology at the Anaerobe Laboratory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute. In 1979, she became an Assistant Professor of Microbiology at the University of Illinois (Urbana, IL). Prof. Salyers has published nearly 200 scientific publications, 2 textbooks and 1 book aimed at the general public. She was elected President of the
American Society for Microbiology which had 42,000 members in 2001. She has also testified before a number of regulatory agencies and Congress on issues involved with antibiotic use.
www.life.uiuc.edu/micro/facultyfaculty_salyers.htm