Elizabeth Patton,
Ph.D FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
is professor of
chemical genetics Chemical genetics is the investigation of the function of proteins and signal transduction pathways in cells by the screening of chemical libraries of small molecules. Chemical genetics is analogous to classical genetic screen where random mutations ...
and group leader of
Medical Research Council Institute for Genetics and Molecular Medicine (IGMM) Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh, Personal Chair of
Melanoma
Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...
Genetics and Drug Discovery for a disease which kills 20,000 Europeans a year, and accounts for 80% of all skin cancer deaths.
Her research into the genetic models and drug interactions testing, sharing international findings, is mainly using
zebrafish in conjunction with the
Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre. She holds a number of academic leadership roles in UK, Europe and international scientific bodies.
In 2021, she was made a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Biography
E. Elizabeth Patton was born in
Halifax,
Nova Scotia and completed her bachelor of science (honours) degree at King's College
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...
, before undertaking her doctorate at the
University of Toronto, with
Michael Tyers on how
E3 ubiquitin ligases control
cell division. She won a Human Frontier Science Programme postdoctoral fellowship (2001-2004) working with
Leonard Zon at
Harvard Medical School and a Medical Research Council fellowship
to the
University of Oxford,
developing
BRAF zebrafish model for melanoma, which is now used globally. She heads her own lab at the MRC Human Genetics Unit in
Edinburgh.
Patton is on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the
Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine and helps selecting young scientists for the Lister Prize. In 2020, Patton was successfully appointed Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal, ''
Disease Models & Mechanisms'' with
Elaine Mardis
Elaine R. Mardis (born September 28, 1962) is the co-executive director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital, where she also serves as the Nationwide Foundation Endowed Chair in Genomic Medicine. She also is pro ...
as Deputy Editor-in-Chief.
On being elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2021), Professor Patton is serving on the RSE Industry Working Group.
Earlier in her career (2012) she collaborated with colleagues at
St. Andrews University
(Aien aristeuein)
, motto_lang = grc
, mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best
, established =
, type = Public research university
Ancient university
, endowment ...
on understanding drug mechanisms in the treatment of
sleeping sickness and similar diseases. In April 2013, she was made a member of the Young Academy of Scotland.
Now with her own MRC laboratory, the ongoing focus of study is zebrafish genetic / drug interactions and
melanocyte
Melanocytes are melanin-producing neural crest-derived cells located in the bottom layer (the stratum basale) of the skin's epidermis, the middle layer of the eye (the uvea),
the inner ear,
vaginal epithelium, meninges,
bones,
and heart.
...
and
melanoma
Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...
biology, which aims to translate to human genetics or medical advances.
In 2013 she said, "The thrill of discovery is what keeps scientists going, especially when we’re on the road to being able to provide cures and better therapies."
Patton was the first President of the international Zebrafish Disease Models Society (2013-2015)
and co-leads their Drug Discovery Research Interest Group, as well as holding leadership roles in the
European Zebrafish Society
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...
and the Society for Melanoma Research, of which she is Secretary. She is on the Medical Review Panel of the Canadian international award organisation, the
Gairdner Foundation.
In 2016 she co-edited ''Zebrafish - Methods and Protocols'' in the ''
Methods in Molecular Biology'' textbook series.
From 2017-18, Patton was a supervisor in OPTIMA (4 year programme) an
EPSRC and MRC co-funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Optical
Medical Imaging
Medical imaging is the technique and process of imaging the interior of a body for clinical analysis and medical intervention, as well as visual representation of the function of some organs or tissues (physiology). Medical imaging seeks to rev ...
for cutting-edge optical technology to address key clinical questions via medical imaging (hosted both at the University of Edinburgh and the
University of Strathclyde).
The Melanoma Research Alliance and
L'Oreal Paris funded her research, as described to the readers of ''
Stylist
Stylist can refer to:
Occupations
* Automotive stylist or car stylist, a person involved in designing the appearance and ergonomics of automobiles
* Food stylist, a person who makes food look attractive in photographs
* Hair stylist, a person w ...
'' magazine in 2018, and she was interviewed by the Melanoma Association about the possibilities for
Women in STEM. She was a speaker at the European Society for Dermatological Research in 2019. In 2020 she also spoke about why her work was with animal models. Patton is also one of the UK
Pharmacogenetics &
Stratified Medicine
Personalized medicine, also referred to as precision medicine, is a medical model that separates people into different groups—with medical decisions, practices, interventions and/or products being tailored to the individual patient based on thei ...
Network which brings clinical, academic and industry parties together.
In 2021, as well as becoming a FRSE, and her research findings continuing, Patton will serve on the UK Medical Research Council Molecular & Cellular Medicine Board.
She is married to an academic specialist in
Greek literature and
papyrology, and has a son and daughter.
Selected publications from Patton laboratory
* ''Wilms Tumor 1b defines a wound-specific sheath cell subpopulation associated with notochord repair'' 13 Feb 2018 in
eLife, vol.
* ''Mosaic RAS/MAPK variants cause sporadic vascular malformations which respond to targeted therapy'' 2 Apr 2018 in ''
Journal of Clinical Investigation'', vol. 128, pp. 1496–15
* ''ALDH1 bio-activates nifuroxazide to eradicate ALDHHigh melanoma-initiating cells'' 20 Dec 2018 in ''
Cell Chemical Biology'', vol. 25, pp. 1456–1469.
* ''Zebrafish MITF-low melanoma subtype models reveal transcriptional subclusters and MITF-independent residual disease'' Nov 2019 in ''
Cancer Research (journal), Cancer Research'', vol. 79, pp. 5769–57
* ''PRL3-DDX21 transcriptional control of endolysosomal genes restricts melanocyte stem cell differentiation'' 10 Aug 2020 in ''
Developmental Cell'', vol. 54, pp. 317–332.E9
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Patton, Elizabeth
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Canadian women scientists
Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) people
Scientists from Nova Scotia
Living people
Canadian women academics
Year of birth missing (living people)