Judith Patricia Armitage (born 1951) is a British molecular and cellular
biochemist
Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...
at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
Early life and education
Armitage was born on 21 February 1951 in
Shelley,
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, England.
She attended
Selby Girls' High School, an all-female
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
, then located in the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
. In her sixth form, the school became the co-educational Selby Grammar School.
Armitage earned a BSc in Microbiology at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
in 1972, and was awarded a
PhD in 1976 for research on the bacterium
Proteus mirabilis
''Proteus mirabilis'' is a Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterium. It shows swarming motility and urease activity. ''P. mirabilis'' causes 90% of all ''Proteus'' infections in humans. It is widely distributed in soil and ...
.
She remained at UCL in the laboratory of Micheal Evans for her postdoctoral work.
Research and career
Armitage's research is largely based on the motion of bacteria by
flagellar rotation and the
chemotactic
Chemotaxis (from '' chemo-'' + ''taxis'') is the movement of an organism or entity in response to a chemical stimulus. Somatic cells, bacteria, and other single-cell or multicellular organisms direct their movements according to certain chemical ...
mechanisms used to control that motion. Armitage was appointed Lecturer in Biochemistiry at Oxford in 1985 and was awarded the
Title of Distinction The University of Oxford introduced Titles of Distinction for senior academics in the 1990s. These are not established chairs, which are posts funded by endowment for academics with a distinguished career in British and European universities. Howeve ...
of Professor of Biochemistry in 1996. Armitage is a fellow of
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...
and has served as Director of the Oxford University Centre for Integrative
Systems Biology
Systems biology is the computational modeling, computational and mathematical analysis and modeling of complex biological systems. It is a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on complex interactions within biological syst ...
since 2006.
Armitage was elected President of the
Microbiology Society
The Microbiology Society (previously the Society for General Microbiology) is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with a worldwide membership based in universities, industry, hospitals, research institutes and schools. It is the large ...
for 2019.
Awards and honours
Armitage was awarded a
Lister Institute
The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, informally known as the Lister Institute, was established as a research institute (the British Institute of Preventive Medicine) in 1891, with bacteriologist Marc Armand Ruffer as its first director, us ...
Research Fellowship in 1982.
In 2010 Armitage was elected a member of the
European Molecular Biology Organisation
The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...
and in 2011 was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Microbiology
The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...
and a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB), previously Fellowship of the Society of Biology (FSB), is an award and fellowship granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Biology has adjudged to have made a "prominent contribution to ...
.
Armitage was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2013. Her nomination reads:
In January 2019 she was elected president of the
Microbiology Society
The Microbiology Society (previously the Society for General Microbiology) is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with a worldwide membership based in universities, industry, hospitals, research institutes and schools. It is the large ...
for a term of three years.
References
Living people
1951 births
Academics of the University of Oxford
Alumni of University College London
British biochemists
Fellows of Merton College, Oxford
Female Fellows of the Royal Society
People from Selby
Women biochemists
20th-century British women scientists
21st-century British women scientists
Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology
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