Elizabeth Simpson

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRS FMedSci is a British biologist. She is the Emeritus Professor of Transplantation Biology at Imperial College London. Simpson is particularly known for her elucidation of the nature of male-associated minor transplantation antigens, and their roles in the generation of

immunological tolerance Immune tolerance, or immunological tolerance, or immunotolerance, is a state of unresponsiveness of the immune system to substances or tissue that would otherwise have the capacity to elicit an immune response in a given organism. It is induced by ...

, graft versus host disease, and transplant rejection.

Life and education

Elizabeth Simpson was born in London, England. She obtained both her Bachelor's and Master's of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Cambridge. Immediately following her completion of education, she began working at a private practice in NB, Canada as a veterinary

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

for two years. She then worked as a virologist in Ottawa for the Department of Health and Welfare. In 1966, she returned to Cambridge and served as an assistant lecturer in animal pathology for three years. Simpson subsequently moved to Delhi, India and became a WHO consultant immunologist at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases. During her work in Delhi, India, she simultaneously worked for the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in London, England as a research scientist. In the years following her work in India and for the NIMR, she has worked for several institutes, including her work as the head of the Transplant Biology Group at both the Medical Research Council's Clinical Research Centre in Harrow and the Clinical Sciences Centre at the Hammersmith Hospital. In addition, Simpson has done work for the National Cancer Institute, was the Deputy Director of the Clinical Sciences Centre at Imperial College, London, and continues to spend many summers at the Jax Laboratory in Maine. Although Simpson is a British Biologist, she has made significant contributions to her field of work in both the United States and in England. She is currently working as the Emeritus Professor of Transplant Biology at Imperial College, London, and has held this position since 2004.

Research

Simpson specializes in cellular immunology. She began her work with Peter Medawar in the late 1960's. Alongside him, she studied the immunology of graft rejection by observing the antigens found on grafts from male mice. With their research on the mice, Simpson and Medawar were able to discover the role of the genes found on the Y chromosome in rejection. She has made contributions to immunology by observing the interactions between T cells and Y chromosome antigens. Her studies in the area of minor histocompatibility

antigens In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule or molecular structure or any foreign particulate matter or a pollen grain that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. ...

showed that male-specific cytotoxic T cells recognize self-MHC and products of

genes In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

on the Y chromosome. She carried out the

molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioche ...

identification of the HY genes and the peptide

epitopes An epitope, also known as antigenic determinant, is the part of an antigen that is recognized by the immune system, specifically by antibodies, B cells, or T cells. The epitope is the specific piece of the antigen to which an antibody binds. The p ...

they encode. Simpson's work has led to an increased understanding of immunological tolerance and graft acceptance/rejection, leading organ transplantation to become safer and more successful for patients. She is now using information to address fundamental questions, such as T cell-repertoire selection and immunodominance, and to devise models for investigating the modulation of in vivo haematopoietic stem cells.

Awards and honours

* 2000:

* 2010: Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons * 2010: Fellow of the Royal Society * 2015: HonDSc from

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

* 2019: "Outstanding Contribution to Science for Lifetime Achievements in Immunology and Inflammation" - Queen Mary University of London

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Elizabeth Female Fellows of the Royal Society Officers of the Order of the British Empire Living people Year of birth missing (living people)