MRC scientists honoured in annual Royal Society election
20 May 2011
The Royal Society has elected 44 distinguished scientists to join its Fellowship. All have made substantial contributions to the advancement of knowledge, spanning the fields of science, engineering and technology.
Many of those elected have at some point in their careers received support from the Medical Research Council. The list includes two MRC scientists, an MRC Board member and a former unit director.
Professor Doreen Cantrell is a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow at the University of Dundee and chairs the MRC Infections and Immunity Board. Professor Cantrell is known internationally for her delineation of the biological basis of T lymphocyte development and activation, which is a key component of the body’s immune response. She is noted for her multidisciplinary approach and the combination of biochemical, cell biological, transgenic and gene knock-out technologies.
Dr Steve Gamblin is a group leader at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in London. Dr Gamblin's research has provided critical insights into the fundamental mechanisms underlying cell signalling and disease processes. He uses a combination of structural, biophysical and functional studies to understand molecules involved in diseases such as influenza, diabetes and cancer. Dr Gamblin’s laboratory also has a long-term interest in how epigenetic mechanisms regulate gene expression.
Professor John Morton OBE is a cognitive psychologist at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London and a former director of the MRC Cognitive Development Unit. Professor Morton was at the forefront of the information processing revolution of psychology in the 1960s, which moved experimental psychology out of behaviourism and into cognition. He is widely recognised as a pioneer of cognitive theories that explain and predict rather than describe and correlate behaviour.
Dr Sean Munro is a group leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Dr Munro is distinguished for his research into the organisation of eukaryotic cells. His work is focussed on an organelle that plays a central role in the sorting and modification of proteins in the secretory pathway. By characterising this pathway, Dr Munro is constructing a picture of how organelle identity is created and maintained.
Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society, said:
“It is a true pleasure to welcome this year’s new Fellows to the Royal Society. They join the ranks of the UK and Commonwealth’s leading scientists, counting themselves among early Fellows such as Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle and Charles Darwin. The Society aims to expand the frontiers of knowledge by championing the development and use of science, mathematics, engineering and medicine for the benefit of humanity and the good of the planet. It is the contribution of excellent individuals such as these which makes this possible.”
Other newly elected Fellows include experts working on drug-resistant malaria, non-invasive prenatal diagnosis of genetic disorders and the discovery of grapheme. An additional eight foreign members (scientists who are not residents of a Commonwealth country or Ireland) have also been elected. The full list is available on the Royal Society website: http://royalsociety.org
