Great Discoveries in Science Seminar: An Exploration of the Process and Culture of Science Spring 2013 Th The University of Alabama – Stillman College-Shelton State Community College February 4, 2013 Controversy, Falsification or Fabrication Dr. Felisa Wolfe-Simon ● Discovered bacterium , Halomonas GFAJ-1 (of the Halomonadaceae family of Gammaproteobacteria),from Mono Lake, California. ● Reported to use arsenic instead of phosphate ● Reported could grow using arsenic and no phosphorous with the bacteria substituting arsenic for phosphorus in many important molecules in its body, including DNA. >What happens when a young woman scientist challenges the status quo? >What happens when a scientist takes risk? >Is the discovery true or just an example of not well-controlled experimentation? >Did the authors do controls because they just wanted to show that their hypothesis was true? >What do you think about science by “blog”? >How do you evaluate the role of the news media is this controversy? ● Professional Website http://felisawolfesimon.com/ ● Professional CV http://felisawolfesimon.com/papers/WolfeSimon_CV.pdf ● Personal Information in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felisa_Wolfe-Simon ● Attacks http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/science/14arsenic.html http://blog.chembark.com/2011/06/16/felisa-wolfe-simon-does-not-get-it/ http://devoid.blogs.heraldtribune.com/12301/attack-of-the-science-cannibals/ Rosie Redfield – June 16, 2011 http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/06/16/from-the-shadows-to-the- spotlight-to-the-dustbin-the-rise-and-fall-of-gfaj-1/ Nature – May 27, 2011 http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110527/full/news.2011.333.html ● Press 1011 Time 100 People – April 21, 2011 http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_206 6250,00.html Article in Glamour http://yfrog.com/z/gzm3q1j ● Publications related to arsenic F. Wolfe-Simon, P.C.W. Davies and A.D. Anbar (2009). Did nature also choose Arsenic? International Journal of Astrobiology. 8: 69-74. R.S. Oremland, C.W. Saltikov, F. Wolfe-Simon, and J.F. Stolz (2009). Arsenic in the evolution of Earth and extraterrestrial ecosystems. Geomicrobiology Journal. 26: 522 - 536. THE PAPER F. Wolfe-Simon, J. Switzer Blum, T.R. Kulp, G.W. Gordon, S.E. Hoeft, J. Pett-Ridge, J.F. Stolz, S.M. Webb, P.K. Weber, P.C.W. Davies, A.D. Anbar and R.S. Oremland (2011). A bacterium that can grow by using arsenic instead of phosphorus. Science 6034:1163-1166 (helf from Dec 2, 2010 to June 3, 2011) ● Science response when publishing the article: 8 Technical Comments that was published with the article at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6034/1149.1.full Follow up Reaves ML, Sinha S, Rabinowitz, Kruglyak, Redfield RJ. 2013. Absence of detectable arsenate in DNA from arsenate-grown GFAJ-1 Cells. Sciences 337: 470-473. Sponsored by a Grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Precollege and Undergraduate Science Education Program to The University of Alabama .