Jillian Banfield. Jillian Fiona Banfield  (born Armidale, Australia) is professor at the University of California, Berkeley with appointments in the Earth Science, Ecosystem Science and Materials Science and Engineering departments. She is the director of microbiology the Innovative Genomics Institute, is affiliated with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and has a position at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Some of her most noted work includes publications on the structure and functioning of microbial communities and the nature, properties and reactivity (especially crystal growth) of nanomaterials.

Early life and education

Banfield was educated at the Australian National University where she completed her bachelor's and master's degrees (1978–1985) both examining granite weathering. She attributes her initial interest in geomicrobiology to Dr Tony Eggleton who drew her attention to processes at the earth's surface, mineral weathering and the regolith.

Banfield graduated with a PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Johns Hopkins University for high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) studies of metamorphic reactions supervised by David R. Veblen.

Career and research
Banfield is an earth scientist who studies the structure, functioning and diversity of microbial communities in natural environments and the human microbiome.

Banfield was a Fulbright Student in Medicine from the Australian National University to Johns Hopkins University in 1988, and a Mac Arthur Fellow in 1999. She has been a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1990 to 2001 and the University of Tokyo (1996–1998).

Since 2001, she has been a researcher and professor at the University of California Berkeley where she heads the geomicrobiology program and works as a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her research as of 2021 spans field sites in Northern California to Australia and covers subjects at the intersection of microbiology and geosciences, including genome-resolved metagenomics, genome editing tool development, astrobiology and microbial carbon capture.

In 2006 Banfield encouraged Jennifer Doudna to study CRISPR after finding the sequences  pervasive and rapidly evolving across bacterial genomes. (Doudna went on to receive a Nobel Prize for her resulting groundbreaking CRISPR gene engineering technology).

In 2023, Banfield became the first woman to win the Leeuwenhoek Medal from the Royal Dutch Society for Microbiology, an award that has been given roughly every 10 years since 1875 to honor scientists who have made outstanding contributions to science, society and outreach in the field of microbiology.

Work

Genome-Resolved Metagenomics 
Banfield pioneered the development and application of genome-resolved metagenomics, a technique that allows for the reconstruction of individual genomes from complex microbial communities without the need for cultivation. This approach significantly expanded our understanding of microbial diversity and evolution.

Tree of Life Expansion 
Through her work in genomics, Banfield's research group has provided insights into previously unknown bacterial and archaeal lineages. This has led to a substantial revision and expansion of the Tree of Life, adding entire new branches known as Candidate Phyla Radiation, reshaping our understanding of microbial evolution:

Microorganism-Mineral Interactions 
Banfield has made significant contributions to understanding how microorganisms interact with minerals. This includes studies on how these interactions can lead to the production of nanomaterials and influence geochemical cycles.

Microbiome Community Editing 
Banfield's research has expanded to include innovative approaches for editing microbial communities, with applications in human health and climate change mitigation. In collaboration with Jennifer Doudna, Banfield has developed groundbreaking techniques for precision microbiome editing. Their work combines genome-resolved metagenomics with CRISPR genome editing to enable targeted modifications of specific genes in complex microbial communities. In 2023 they launched a $70 million initiative to apply microbiome editing to address global challenges in human and planetary health. For human health applications, the research focuses on editing the microbiome to prevent childhood asthma and other inflammatory diseases. In climate change mitigation efforts, the team is targeting methane-producing microbes in livestock to reduce agricultural methane emissions.

Honours and awards
2023 Leeuwenhoek Medal 
2018 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
2017 V.M. Goldschmidt Award, Geochemical Society
2015 Elected to the Australian Academy of Science (International Member)
2015 Honor doctorate, Ben Gurion University, Israel
2013 Award of Dr. sch. h.c. ETH Zurich, Switzerland
2011 L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science: North American Laureate
2011 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science of the Franklin Institute
2010 Dana Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America
2007 Elected Fellow, The Geochemical Society
2007 ASM Division Q Lecturer (Environmental and General Applied Microbiology)
2006 Elected Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology
2006 Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
2005 Pioneer Lecturer, Clay Minerals Society, June 2005
2005 Rosenqvist Lecturer, Norway, May 2005
2000 Inaugural NSF Earth Science Week Lecturer
2000 Gast Lecturer, Geochemical Society
2000 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
2000 Marion L. and Christie M. Jackson Award of the Clay Minerals Society
1999 Fellow through 2004 MacArthur Foundation
1999 Faculty Achievement Award, UW-Madison
1999 D.A. Brown Medal, Australian National University
1998 H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship UW Madison
1997 Mineralogical Society of America Award
1988 Fulbright Scholar in Medicine at Johns Hopkins University

References 

Living people
Australian expatriates in the United States
Australian women geologists
Australian microbiologists
Geomicrobiologists
UC Berkeley College of Engineering faculty
Australian National University alumni
Johns Hopkins University alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty
MacArthur Fellows
Women microbiologists
Benjamin Franklin Medal (Franklin Institute) laureates
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates
21st-century American women scientists
Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science
Evolutionary biologists
Women evolutionary biologists
Fellows of the Royal Society
1959 births
Female fellows of the Royal Society
Recipients of the V. M. Goldschmidt Award