World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Best Female Scientists
2025

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Best Female Scientists

D-Index
107
Citations
64260
World Ranking
998
National Ranking
603

Biology and Biochemistry

D-Index
110
Citations
68313
World Ranking
957
National Ranking
594

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2025 - Research.com Best Female Scientists Award
  • 2021 - Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize
  • 2020 - Genetics Society of America Medal
  • 2020 - Gruber Prize in Genetics
  • 2016 - Excellence in Science Award, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)
  • 2016 - Max Planck Research Award Pioneering research into the sensory perception of organisms
  • 2016 - Member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
  • 2014 - ASM Alice C. Evans Award for Advancement of Women, American Society for Microbiology
  • 2012 - Fellow of the Royal Society, United Kingdom
  • 2011 - Richard Lounsbery Award, National Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Sciences for her pioneering discoveries of the universal use of chemical communication among bacteria and the elucidation of structural and regulatory mechanisms controlling bacterial assemblies.
  • 2007 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 2006 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 2004 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 2002 - Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation

Overview

Bonnie L. Bassler is affiliated with Princeton University in the United States and has made contributions primarily within the field of Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, with a focus on Molecular Biology, Endocrinology, Genetics, Ecology, and Molecular Medicine. Their research centers on topics including bacterial biofilms and quorum sensing, Vibrio bacteria studies, bacterial genetics and biotechnology, bacteriophages and microbial interactions, antibiotic resistance in bacteria, microbial community ecology and physiology, and Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization.

Recent publications by Bonnie L. Bassler include:

  • Cell position fates and collective fountain flow in bacterial biofilms revealed by light-sheet microscopy, 2020, Science
  • Nonuniform growth and surface friction determine bacterial biofilm morphology on soft substrates, 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Roadmap on emerging concepts in the physical biology of bacterial biofilms: from surface sensing to community formation, 2021, Physical Biology
  • Quorum sensing across bacterial and viral domains, 2021, PLoS Pathogens
  • Identification of signaling pathways, matrix-digestion enzymes, and motility components controlling Vibrio cholerae biofilm dispersal, 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Frequent co-authors collaborating with Bonnie L. Bassler include Chenyi Fei, Justin E. Silpe, Olivia P. Duddy, Andrew A. Bridges, and Ameya A. Mashruwala.

Major publication venues for their work are:

  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • mBio
  • PLoS Genetics

Throughout their career, Bonnie L. Bassler has received several awards recognizing various aspects of their scientific contributions. These awards include the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (2021), the Genetics Society of America Medal (2020), the Gruber Prize in Genetics (2020), and the Max Planck Research Award (2016) for pioneering research into the sensory perception of organisms.

They were also named Member of the National Academy of Medicine (2016), received the Excellence in Science Award from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) in 2016, and earned the ASM Alice C. Evans Award for Advancement of Women from the American Society for Microbiology in 2014.

Additional distinctions include Fellow of the Royal Society, United Kingdom (2012), the Richard Lounsbery Award by the National Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Sciences (2011) acknowledging their work on chemical communication among bacteria and mechanisms controlling bacterial assemblies, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007), Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2006), and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2004). Earlier in their career, they were also a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation (2002).

Best Publications

  • Quorum Sensing in Bacteria

    Melissa B. Miller;Bonnie L. Bassler

  • QUORUM SENSING: Cell-to-Cell Communication in Bacteria

    Christopher M. Waters;Bonnie L. Bassler

  • Quorum sensing signal–response systems in Gram-negative bacteria

    Kai Papenfort;Bonnie L. Bassler

  • Bacterial Quorum Sensing: Its Role in Virulence and Possibilities for Its Control

    Steven T. Rutherford;Bonnie L. Bassler;Bonnie L. Bassler

  • Structural identification of a bacterial quorum-sensing signal containing boron

    Xin Chen;Stephan Schauder;Noelle Potier;Alain Van Dorsselaer

  • Bacterial Quorum-Sensing Network Architectures

    Wai Leung Ng;Bonnie L. Bassler

  • How bacteria talk to each other: regulation of gene expression by quorum sensing.

    Bonnie L Bassler

  • Quorum sensing in Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Vibrio harveyi: A new family of genes responsible for autoinducer production

    Michael G. Surette;Melissa B. Miller;Bonnie L. Bassler

  • The LuxS family of bacterial autoinducers: biosynthesis of a novel quorum-sensing signal molecule

    Stephan Schauder;Kevan Shokat;Michael G. Surette;Bonnie L. Bassler

  • Bacterial small-molecule signaling pathways.

    Andrew Camilli;Bonnie Lynn Bassler;Bonnie Lynn Bassler;Bonnie Lynn Bassler

  • The Small RNA Chaperone Hfq and Multiple Small RNAs Control Quorum Sensing in Vibrio harveyi and Vibrio cholerae

    Derrick H. Lenz;Kenny C. Mok;Brendan N. Lilley;Rahul V. Kulkarni

  • Small talk. Cell-to-cell communication in bacteria.

    Bonnie L Bassler

  • Quorum sensing controls biofilm formation in Vibrio cholerae.

    Brian K. Hammer;Bonnie L. Bassler

  • Quorum-sensing regulators control virulence gene expression in Vibrio cholerae

    Jun Zhu;Melissa B. Miller;Russell E. Vance;Michelle Dziejman

  • Intercellular signalling in Vibrio harveyi: sequence and function of genes regulating expression of luminescence

    Bonnie L. Bassler;Miriam Wright;Richard E. Showalter;Michael R. Silverman

  • Cross-species induction of luminescence in the quorum-sensing bacterium Vibrio harveyi.

    B L Bassler;E P Greenberg;A M Stevens

  • Multiple signalling systems controlling expression of luminescence in Vibrio harveyi: sequence and function of genes encoding a second sensory pathway.

    Bonnie Lynn Bassler;Miriam Wright;Michael R. Silverman

  • LuxS quorum sensing: more than just a numbers game.

    Karina B Xavier;Bonnie L Bassler

  • Parallel Quorum Sensing Systems Converge to Regulate Virulence in Vibrio cholerae

    Melissa B. Miller;Karen Skorupski;Derrick H. Lenz;Ronald K. Taylor

  • Bacterial quorum sensing in complex and dynamically changing environments.

    Sampriti Mukherjee;Bonnie Lynn Bassler;Bonnie Lynn Bassler

Frequent Co-Authors

Ned S. Wingreen
Ned S. Wingreen Princeton University
Howard A. Stone
Howard A. Stone Princeton University
Martin F. Semmelhack
Martin F. Semmelhack Princeton University
Knut Drescher
Knut Drescher Max Planck Society
Frederick M. Hughson
Frederick M. Hughson Princeton University
Michael G. Surette
Michael G. Surette McMaster University
Saul Roseman
Saul Roseman Johns Hopkins University
Christopher M. Waters
Christopher M. Waters Michigan State University
Philip D. Jeffrey
Philip D. Jeffrey Princeton University
Nai Phuan Ong
Nai Phuan Ong Princeton University

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