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Rae Robertson-Anderson
Alma materGeorgetown University
University of California, San Diego
Known forSoft matter physics
Scientific career
InstitutionsThe Scripps Research Institute
University of San Diego

Rae Marie Robertson-Anderson is an American biophysicist who is a Professor and Associate Provost at the University of San Diego. She works on soft matter physics and is particularly interested in the transport and molecular mechanics of biopolymer networks. Robertson-Anderson is a member of the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Early life and education

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Robertson-Anderson grew up in Cincinnati, where she realised that she liked physics at high school.[1] She studied physics at Georgetown University and graduated magna cum laude in 2003.[2][3] She was supported by a Clare Boothe Luce scholarship to study the diffusion of granular materials.[2] She was made a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[citation needed] Robertson-Anderson moved to the University of California, San Diego for her graduate studies, completing a National Science Foundation supported PhD under the supervision of Douglas Smith on single-molecule studies of DNA.[4] She used video fluorescence microscopy and single molecule tracking to monitor the diffusion coefficients of engineered DNA.[4] Robertson-Anderson joined The Scripps Research Institute as a postdoctoral researcher working with David Millar.[1] She worked on single-molecule microscopy to establish the binding kinetics in HIV-1 regulatory proteins.[2][5]

Research and career

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Robertson-Anderson joined the faculty of University of San Diego in 2009.[6] She leads the Robertson-Anderson biophysics laboratory.[7] She uses single-molecule microscopy and optical tweezers to understand macromolecule dynamics in soft matter.[8] Using optical tweezer microrheology, Robertson-Anderson can measure intermolecular forces with piconewton precision.[9] By using embedded microspheres and Stokes-Einstein relations it is possible to determine the viscoelastic properties of biomaterials.[10]

Robertson-Anderson was awarded a United States Department of Defense Air Force Office of Scientific Research grant to study entangled DNA.[11] She has developed optical tweezer technologies that can be used to track single molecules in actin protein networks.[11] Networks of actin have a range of structural and dynamical properties, and respond to stress and strain.[12] She uses fluorescence force-measuring optical tweezers to link molecular deformation (strain) and resistive forces (stress).[12] She has also shown it is possible to use optical tweezers to transport microspheres through composite networks, measuring the forces that polymers use to resist the strain, and fluorescence microscopy to understand macromolecular mobility.[13] She develops analysis algorithms, microfluidics and macromolecular synthesis techniques to determine the dynamics of nucleic acids.[14] Her platform, Spatiotemporal Light-sheet Assisted Multiscale Macromolecular Transport Analysis Probe (SLAMMTAP), can be used to characterise DNA and cytoskeleton environments.[14]

In 2015, Robertson-Anderson attended a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Scialog program, where she met Jenny Ross and became interested in cytoskeleton scaffolding proteins.[15][16] Robertson-Anderson was awarded a W. M. Keck Foundation grant to develop autonomous materials based on cytoskeleton proteins that can use biologically-derived components, such as circadian clock proteins, to perform mechanical work.[15][17] The circadian oscillator system is taken from cyanobacteria, and turns on and off in the presence of phosphate molecules.[16] The proteins can function on the outside of living cells.[16] The oscillators produce actomyosin, a protein complex which contracts muscle tissue.[16]

Robertson-Anderson was made Chair of the Department of Physics and Biophysics at UCSD in 2015.[1] She was the American Physical Society Woman of the Month in February 2017.[11] She appeared on the Ada Lovelace Day podcast discussing her work on biological soft matter and biomaterials.[18]

Robertson-Anderson is an advocate for undergraduate teaching and research.[2] She is a member of the council for the Council on Undergraduate Research.[2] She has developing a new advanced laboratory and improved the representation of women in the program at UCSD.[11] She created the Beckman Scholarship Program to recruit talented undergraduate scientists.[citation needed] She has led National Science Foundation proposals to support students from underrepresented backgrounds into science, technology, engineering and maths subjects.[19][20] Her undergraduate student, Stephanie Gorczyca, won the American Physical Society LeRoy Apker Award for outstanding undergraduate research.[3] Robertson-Anderson was awarded the University of San Diego Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor Award in 2015.[citation needed] She was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2022 "for outstanding contributions to the fundamental knowledge of a wide range of biological processes including cell division, cytoskeletal organization, DNA tethering and helicases, and other active biological systems".[21]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Anderson Biophysics Research Group - About Research". home.sandiego.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Biography - Rae M. Robertson Anderson, PhD - College of Arts and Sciences - University of San Diego". www.sandiego.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  3. ^ a b "Georgetown physics alumna mentors Apker Award winner". physics.georgetown.edu. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  4. ^ a b Robertson, Rae Marie (2007). Single-molecule studies of DNA dynamics and intermolecular forces (Thesis). UC San Diego.
  5. ^ Robertson-Anderson, Rae M.; Wang, Jun; Edgcomb, Stephen P.; Carmel, Andrew B.; Williamson, James R.; Millar, David P. (2011). "Single-Molecule Studies Reveal that DEAD Box Protein DDX1 Promotes Oligomerization of HIV-1 Rev on the Rev Response Element". Journal of Molecular Biology. 410 (5): 959–971. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2011.04.026. ISSN 0022-2836. PMC 3140434. PMID 21763499.
  6. ^ "Speakers – CUWiP @ UCSD". Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  7. ^ "Anderson Biophysics Research Group - Home". home.sandiego.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  8. ^ Robertson-Anderson, Rae M. (2018-09-17). Dholakia, Kishan; Spalding, Gabriel C. (eds.). "Optical tweezers microrheology: from the basics to novel techniques and applications (Conference Presentation)". Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation XV. SPIE: 50. doi:10.1117/12.2325083. ISBN 9781510620179. S2CID 125876630.
  9. ^ Robertson-Anderson, Rae M. (2018-08-21). "Optical Tweezers Microrheology: From the Basics to Advanced Techniques and Applications". ACS Macro Letters. 7 (8): 968–975. doi:10.1021/acsmacrolett.8b00498. ISSN 2161-1653. PMC 9163451. PMID 35650960.
  10. ^ Chapman, Cole D.; Lee, Kent; Henze, Dean; Smith, Douglas E.; Robertson-Anderson, Rae M. (2014-02-11). "Onset of Non-Continuum Effects in Microrheology of Entangled Polymer Solutions". Macromolecules. 47 (3): 1181–1186. Bibcode:2014MaMol..47.1181C. doi:10.1021/ma401615m. ISSN 0024-9297.
  11. ^ a b c d "2017 Women Physicist of the Month". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  12. ^ a b "NSF Award Search: Award#1255446 - CAREER: Elucidating the material properties of complex tunable biopolymer networks using single-molecule nano stress-strain transducers and sensors". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  13. ^ "Department of Physics – Colloquium: Untangling the Mechanics of Entangled Biopolymer Composites". 11 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  14. ^ a b McGorty, Ryan; Robertson-Anderson, Rae. "A novel in vitro microscopy suite to elucidate intracellular transport and conformational dynamics of nucleic acids". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. ^ a b "Arts and Sciences in the News - USD-Led Research Group Receives $1 Million Grant from W.M. Keck Foundation - University of San Diego". www.sandiego.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  16. ^ a b c d "Building an Artificial Motile Tissue through Self-Organized Rhythmic Contractility - Scialog: Collaborative Teams". Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  17. ^ "NSF and Keck grants for Jenny Ross | Physics Department | UMass Amherst". Physics Department at UMass Amherst. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  18. ^ FM, Player. "Ep 8: Dr Rae Robertson-Anderson & Dr Thorunn Helgason Ada Lovelace Day podcast". player.fm. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  19. ^ "NSF Award Search: Award#0965940 - Attracting students to Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics at USD". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  20. ^ "NSF Award Search: Award#1458252 - Supporting Students for Success in Mathematics, Computer Science and Physics at the University of San Diego". nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  21. ^ "Fellows nominated in 2022". APS Fellows archive. American Physical Society. Retrieved 2022-10-19.
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