Barbara Baker (molecular biologist)

Barbara Baker is an American plant molecular geneticist working at the University of California, Berkeley and the United States Department of Agriculture She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.

Education and career
Baker graduated from Los Alamitos High School in 1970 and completed her undergraduate studies at UC San Diego in 1974. She went on to earn her PhD at UC San Francisco with J. Michael Bishop and Harold E. Varmus in 1981, and did postdoctoral research in Germany. As of 2021, Baker is an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a senior scientist at the United States Department of Agriculture.

Research
Baker is a plant geneticist working on plant innate immunity, the mechanism by which plants protect themself from diseases. Baker's research includes cloning the N gene for resistance to Tobacco mosaic virus, which was one of the first plant disease resistance genes cloned. She is also known for her research on R-genes and their role as a defense system against plant pathogens. Baker has also examined the genetic conditions behind the susceptibility to disease in tomatoes, potatoes, and the flowering plants in the genus Solanum.

Awards

 * Elected member, National Academy of Sciences (2021)