Patricia Simpson

Patricia "Pat" Simpson FRS is a distinguished British developmental biologist. She is Professor of Comparative Embryology in the University of Cambridge,[1] and a Fellow of Newnham College.[2]

She graduated from Universite de Paris VI, Pierre and Marie Curie University.[3] She is distinguished for her work on development in insects. Her first major discovery was that pattern formation and growth are regulated by the same mechanism. By a study of genetic mosaics she demonstrated that cells develop into particular structures by means of local interactions with their neighbours.

She has made major contributions to the understanding of the process of lateral inhibition, whereby initially equivalent cells interact between themselves and subsequently adopt different fates. This process involves a conserved cellular receptor and is equally important in mammals; the work can be related to studies on human development and disease.[4]

Awards

References

  1. ↑ http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/zoostaff/simpson.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/seniormembers/pas49.shtml
  3. ↑ http://wils.database.embo.org/members_meet.php?action=member&aus=1&member_id=171
  4. ↑ Patricia Simpson: Former F1000Prime Faculty Member in Developmental Molecular Mechanisms - F1000Prime

External links

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