Zachary Lippman

{{short description|American plant biologist}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Zachary B. Lippman | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Zach Lippman.jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1978}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | home_town = | other_names = | siglum = | pronounce = | citizenship = | fields = Plant biology | workplaces = | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = Cornell University, School of Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory | thesis_title = Transposons, heterochromatin, and epigenetic landscapes in Arabidopsis thaliana | thesis_url = http://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/33525/ | thesis_year = 2004 | doctoral_advisor = Robert A. Martienssen | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = MacArthur fellow | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse = Shira Golan<ref name="CSHLGradProfile">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cshl.edu/zachary-lippman-2005-watson-school-graduate-lives-a-larger-than-life/|title=Zachary Lippman, 2005 Watson School graduate, lives a "larger-than" life|date=17 April 2005}}</ref> | partner =  | signature =  | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|https://lippmanlab.cshl.edu/}} | footnotes = }}

'''Zachary B. Lippman''' (born 1978) is an American plant biologist and the Jacob Goldfield Professor of Genetics at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory,<ref name=Newsday2019-09-25/><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Zachary Lippman|url=https://www.cshl.edu/research/faculty-staff/zachary-lippman/|website=Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-30}}</ref> a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/2021-nas-election.html|title=2021 NAS Election}}</ref> Lippman has used gene editing technology to investigate the control of fruit production in various crops.<ref name="Newsday2019-09-25" /><ref name=":0" /> In 2019 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship and in 2020 he received the National Academy of Sciences Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences.<ref name="PNASProfile">{{cite journal|doi=10.1073/pnas.2010408117|title=Qn ''As'' with Zachary B. Lippman|year=2020|last1=Ravindran|first1=Sandeep|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=117|issue=26|pages=14624–14625|pmid=32571941|pmc=7334562|bibcode=2020PNAS..11714624R |doi-access=free}}</ref>

== Early life and education == Lippman worked on a farm in Milford, Connecticut growing up where he grew giant pumpkins.<ref name="ScientistProfile">{{Cite web|url=https://www.the-scientist.com/scientist-to-watch/zach-lippman-susses-out-how-gene-regulation-affects-plant-phenotypes-65384|title=Zach Lippman Susses Out How Gene Regulation Affects Plant Phenotypes|access-date=2020-06-30|archive-date=2020-07-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727132336/https://www.the-scientist.com/scientist-to-watch/zach-lippman-susses-out-how-gene-regulation-affects-plant-phenotypes-65384|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="CSHLGradProfile" /> He attended Cornell University as an undergraduate, graduating in 2000. During his time as an undergraduate he worked with Steven D. Tanksley studying tomatoes. He joined the research group of Robert A. Martienssen at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory where he studied the role of the DDM1 gene in methylation of transposons and how this process can alter the expression of other nearby genes.<ref name="ScientistProfile" /> After completing his PhD in 2004, Lippman was a postdoc with Dani Zamir at Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he studied genes controlling branching in tomatoes. Lippman was hired as a principal investigator at Cold Spring Harbor in 2008.<ref name="ScientistProfile" /><ref name="PNASProfile" />

== Research == Lippman's research group, collaborating with Joyce Van Eck at the Boyce Thompson Institute used genome editing to improve domestication traits in the wild ground cherry, ''Physalis pruinosa''.<ref name="editing paper" /> They targeted three genes known to be important in the domestication of tomato. The first gene made plants more compact and caused them to produce fruit in clusters rather than individually. The second gene increased the number of fruit produced per unit of stem. The final of the three genes increased the size of the fruit by increasing the number of seed compartments inside of each fruit.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cshl.edu/crispr-could-bring-groundcherries-to-market/|title = CRISPR could bring groundcherries to market|date = October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/05/science/groundcherries-crispr-gene-editing.html|title = Taming the Groundcherry: With Crispr, a Fussy Fruit Inches Toward the Supermarket|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 5 October 2018|last1 = Greenwood|first1 = Veronique}}</ref><ref name="editing paper">{{cite journal|doi=10.1038/s41477-018-0259-x|title=Rapid improvement of domestication traits in an orphan crop by genome editing|year=2018|last1=Lemmon|first1=Zachary H.|last2=Reem|first2=Nathan T.|last3=Dalrymple|first3=Justin|last4=Soyk|first4=Sebastian|last5=Swartwood|first5=Kerry E.|last6=Rodriguez-Leal|first6=Daniel|last7=Van Eck|first7=Joyce|last8=Lippman|first8=Zachary B.|s2cid=52919995|journal=Nature Plants|volume=4|issue=10|pages=766–770|pmid=30287957}}</ref>

== Awards == * Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (2018)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Zachary B. Lippman|url=https://www.hhmi.org/scientists/zachary-b-lippman|website=HHMI.org|language=en|access-date=2020-04-30}}</ref> * MacArthur Fellowship, commonly referred to as a "Genius grant" (2019).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Zachary Lippman - MacArthur Foundation|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/1042/|website=www.macfound.org|access-date=2020-04-30}}</ref> * National Academy of Sciences, Prize in Food and Agricultural Sciences (2020).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Zachary B. Lippman|url=http://www.nasonline.org/programs/awards/2020-awards/Lippman.html|website=www.nasonline.org|access-date=2020-04-30}}</ref> * Elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 April 2021 |title=Zach Lippman elected to the National Academy of Sciences |url=https://www.cshl.edu/zach-lippman-elected-to-the-national-academy-of-sciences/ |access-date=2026-01-17}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=Newsday2019-09-25> {{cite news | url = https://www.newsday.com/long-island/zachary-lippman-macarthur-genius-i32206 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190926233737/https://www.newsday.com/long-island/zachary-lippman-macarthur-genius-1.36816141 | url-status = live | archive-date = September 26, 2019 | title = LIer a 2019 MacArthur 'genius' grant recipient | work = Newsday | author = Joan Gralla | date = 2019-09-25 | access-date = 2019-09-29 | quote = Zachary Lippman was named Wednesday by the MacArthur Foundation as one of 26 new fellows, chosen because their exceptional creativity and record of important achievements, the nonprofit says, hold the promise for more of the same. }} </ref> }}

== External links == * {{google scholar id|hxaImnAAAAAJ}}

{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Lippman, Zachary}} Category:1978 births Category:American geneticists Category:American botanists Category:Cornell University alumni Category:Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Category:Living people Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences