The Ink-Credible Power of Symbiosis
Life on Earth is built on partnerships. From tiny bacteria to giant trees, many organisms survive and thrive because of symbiosis. In this engaging talk, Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai will explore the remarkable power of these partnerships in shaping our planet. We will peer back in time to see how early symbiotic mergers led to the complex cells that make up all plants and animals today.
Discover how ancient microbes worked together to form iron-rich rocks, leaving clues about Earth’s early surface. Learn how cyanobacteria helped fill the atmosphere with oxygen, making it possible for new life forms to evolve. And we’ll see how trees and other plants rely on hidden alliances underground to grow and shape entire ecosystems. By uncovering these relationships and understanding why these connections matter more than ever in our changing world.
About the Speaker
Margaret McFall-Ngai is a microbiome specialist who joined Carnegie Science in January 2022, having previously worked at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where she was a professor at the Pacific Biosciences Research Center’s Kewalo Marine Laboratory and the center’s director emerita.
McFall-Ngai is a recognized thought leader in the field of microbiology, highlighting the cornerstone role it plays in the life sciences. Her research focuses on the beneficial relationships between animals and bacteria, including the establishment and maintenance of symbiosis, the evolution of these interactions, and their impact on the animal’s health.
Much of her work has focused on the relationship between the bobtail squid and the luminescent bacterium Vibrio fischeri, which colonizes the nocturnal cephalopod, allowing it to camouflage itself by moonlight and starlight, thereby enabling it to hunt and evade predators. Using this association as a model, she has been able to elucidate many details about how the microbiome shapes various aspects of animal life, including development and longevity.
McFall-Ngai was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2010, a Caltech Moore Scholar between 2011 and 2013, and an Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University between 2010 and 2016. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Microbiology.
She received her undergraduate degree in biology from the University of San Francisco and her Ph.D. in the same field at UCLA.