Bonnie Bassler
Dr. Bassler currently teaches at Princeton, and she's known for her groundbreaking discoveries in cell-to-cell communication in bacteria (specifically, quorum sensing). Quorum sensing helps a population of bacteria to collectively regulate gene expression, so different genes are expressed when the population is at different densities. So basically, she looks at how bacteria can 1) realize that they aren't "alone" and 2) execute some task together as one. Understanding quorum sensing could potentially help us better understand things like infection, or help us develop new kinds of therapies against bacteria. I found her inspiring because along with her amazing research, she also puts in a lot of efforts towards educating others, making science accessible, and encouraging younger scientists.
-Jacqueline
