Margaret J. McFall-Ngai

Margaret Jean McFall-Ngai (born 1951) is an American animal physiologist and biochemist She has been a professor at PBRC's Kewalo Marine Laboratory

Education and career McFall-Ngai spent her childhood in Southern California and attended Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles. She attended college at the University of San Francisco, graduating in 1973 with a Bachelors of Science in biology. while working as a teaching assistant/fellow. Her graduate research took her to the central Philippines to study the relationship between bioluminescent bacteria found in the leiognathid light organ in fish, igniting her "lifelong interest" For her first postdoc, she remained at UCLA working on protein biochemistry-biophysics

In 1989, McFall-Ngai accepted a position and later received tenure at the University of Southern California in the Department of Biology and began breeding and studying the Hawaiian bobtail squid. She returned to Hawaii in 2015 when she accepted the position as director of the Pacific Biosciences Research Program They worked to understand the development of the relationship at different stages of the squid life cycle, analyze the initiation of symbiosis in real time, and identify how the host selects its symbionts. They learned that the squid follows a rhythmic pattern in which the bacteria are brightest when the squid hunt at night and are then expelled at dawn. As analysis tools advanced, Ruby and McFall-Ngai were able to map transcriptional patterns and identify related genes that control the squid's rhythmic behaviors and symbiotic relationship. The sum of their Hawaiian bobtail squid research is an extremely well defined model organism fit for studying bacterial symbioses, light interacting tissues, and cephalopod development.

Awards and honors Source: 2011 – 2016: EU Marie Curie Fellowship 2015: Doctor Honoris Causa, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland 2019: ARCS Foundation Scientist of the Year

Society fellowships (elected) 2002: American Academy of Microbiology fellow 2011: American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2014: National Academy of Science Animals in a bacterial world, a new imperative for the life sciences. The winnowing: establishing the squid–vibrio symbiosis. Unseen Forces: The Influence of Bacteria on Animal Development. Bacterial symbionts induce host organ morphogenesis during early postembryonic development of the squid Euprymna scolopes. Reflectins: The Unusual Proteins of Squid Reflective Tissues. Vibrio fischeri lux Genes Play an Important Role in Colonization and Development of the Host Light Organ

Biographic profiles Microbiology: Here's looking at you, squid. By Ed Yong. PNAS: Profile of Margaret McFall-Ngai. By Jennifer Viegas. I contain multitudes: the microbes within us and a grander view of life (Chapter 3: "Body Builders"). By Ed Yong.

Interviews Futuretech podcast: Hawaiian Bobtail Squid: Using Light to Hide in the Dark—Dr. Margaret Mc-Fall Ngai—The Squid Vibrio Labs. CIFAR Q&A with Margaret McFall-Ngai. The Extra Pounds You Can't Afford to Lose: An Interview With Microbiologist Margaret McFall-Ngai.