Frances Ashcroft facts for kids

Dame Frances Mary Ashcroft, born in 1952, is a famous British scientist. She studies how our bodies work, especially tiny parts called ion channels in cells. These channels are like tiny gates that control how things move in and out of cells.

She is a professor at the University of Oxford. Her team is well-known for their work on insulin and diabetes. Thanks to her research, many children born with a rare type of diabetes can now take pills instead of daily insulin shots.

Her Education

Frances Ashcroft went to Talbot Heath School. Then, she studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge. She earned her PhD in zoology in 1978.

Her Career and Discoveries

After her studies, Professor Ashcroft did more research at the University of Leicester and the University of California at Los Angeles. She helps lead a program called Oxion. This program focuses on ion channels and how they relate to diseases.

Understanding Insulin and Diabetes

Professor Ashcroft's main research looks at special ion channels called K_ATP channels. These channels are very important for releasing insulin from cells in the pancreas. Insulin is a hormone that helps your body use sugar for energy.

Her work helps explain how a rise in blood sugar makes the body release insulin. She also studies what goes wrong with this process in type II diabetes. Her research helps scientists understand how medicines for diabetes work.

Helping Children with Diabetes

One of her biggest achievements is helping children with neonatal diabetes. This is a very rare type of diabetes that babies are born with. Before her work, these children needed insulin injections every day. Now, many can take medicine in pill form instead. This has made a huge difference in their lives.

Books She Has Written

Professor Ashcroft has written several books to share her knowledge. Some of her books explain complex science in a way that's easier to understand:

• Ion Channels and Disease: Channelopathies (about diseases linked to ion channels)
• Life at the Extremes: The Science of Survival
• The Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body

Awards and Recognition

Professor Ashcroft has received many important awards for her scientific work:

• In 1999, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
• In 2007, she won the Walter B. Cannon Award. This is a top award from the American Physiological Society.
• She was one of five women to win the L'Oreal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science in 2012.
• In 2013, she gave the famous Croonian Lecture for the Royal Society.
• In 2015, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). This means she received a special title from the Queen for her services to medical science.

A. S. Byatt's novel A Whistling Woman is partly dedicated to Professor Ashcroft.

Fun Fact

In 2011, Professor Ashcroft appeared on the TV show MasterChef as a diner!

See also

In Spanish: Frances Ashcroft para niños