Brilliant 10: Jack Gilbert Changes The World One Microbe At A Time
Jack Gilbert Alexander Wells Jack Gilbert wound up in microbiology because of ice cream. A food company hired him to look for substances to make frozen desserts smoother, a task that involved studying Antarctic bacteria. “It was a really noble cause!” he jokes. Now a microbiologist at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago, Gilbert samples bacteria from all kinds of ecosystems—both indoor and out—in order to better understand the unique roles they play. “I want the research I do to impact the way we manage the planet,” Gilbert says. In the pursuit of that goal, Gilbert’s projects tackle problems as diverse as water treatment, crop productivity, and human disease. For example, he recently figured out why gut bacteria become more virulent after surgery—they lack phosphate, so giving patients phosphate can prevent...