Lynn L. Silver
Lynn L. Silver is an American born scientist best known for her contributions to the field of antibacterial discovery and development. With over 30 years of experience in the antibacterial discovery field and over 70 peer reviewed publications, Silver provides insight and advice to the research community on global advisory panels, international collaborations for addressing antibiotic resistance issues. Silver has published several highly cited reviews in the field of antibacterial discovery. Education and scientific career. Silver received her BA in Biology from Brandeis University in 1975. She then went on to graduate research in molecular biology and  microbiology at Tufts University, where she was awarded her Ph. D. in 1975. After completing her Ph. D, Silver did postdoctoral research studying DNA replication, an important target for antibacterial interventions, at the University of Geneva in the laboratory of Professor Lucien Caro. She then worked as a Staff Fellow/Senior Staff Fellow at the National Institutes of Health in the laboratory of Dr. Nancy Nossal study the genetics of bacteriophage T4. Silver was then hired as a research scientist at Merck Research Laboratories in 1982 where as a senior scientist she became a leading researcher in the discovery of  novel antibiotics. Scientific contributions. Her extensive research on natural products as templates for antibiotics has made her one of the leading experts in the field as evidenced by her highly cited publications. She has led multidisciplinary antibacterial discovery and development teams supporting chemical synthetic projects on improved antibacterials, and preclinical evaluation of antibacterial drug candidates. Her research includes seminal contributions in the understanding of the mode of action and mechanism of resistance of inhibitors of lipid A synthesis, DNA replication, cell wall synthesis, protein synthesis, and fatty acid synthesis. She has contributed to the discovery of new antibacterials to overcome  antibiotic resistance and toxicity issues through modification and optimization of macrolides, glycopeptides, and beta-lactams. In recognition of her contributions to the field of microbiology, Silver was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2018. Representative publications in peer reviewed journals. There are over 7000 citations of Silver's publications, and she has an h-index of 34