Gillian Griffiths facts for kids

Gillian Griffiths, FMedSci FRS is a British cell biologist and immunologist. Griffiths was one of the first to show that immune cells have specialised mechanisms of secretion, and identified proteins and mechanisms that control cytotoxic T lymphocyte secretion. Griffiths is Professor of Cell Biology and Immunology at the University of Cambridge and is the Director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research.

Education

When she was young, Griffiths initially thought she might like to be an ecologist. However, she began her scientific career at University College London by studying immunology. She continued in the subject, undertaking her PhD at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge supervised by César Milstein.

Awards and honours

Griffiths holds a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship and she is a Fellow at King's College, Cambridge. Griffiths was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2013. Her nomination for the Royal Society reads

Gillian Griffiths has made key contributions to the fields of both cell biology and immunology, introducing important new concepts into both fields. Gillian Griffiths was one of the first to show that immune cells used specialised mechanisms of secretion, identifying the proteins and mechanisms controlling secretion from cytotoxic T lymphocytes by studying human genetic diseases and biochemical approaches. Her work has identified a new and unexpected role for the centrosome in exocytosis, and revealed that centrosome docking at the plasma membrane provides a focal point for exocytosis and endocytosis. Her work is both elegant and insightful.

• 2019: Awarded the Buchanan Medal of the Royal Society.