Judy Armitage facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Judy Armitage
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| Born |
Judith Patricia Armitage
21 February 1951 Shelley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England.
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| Alma mater | University College London |
| Known for | The study of chemotactic mechanisms to control bacterial motion |
| Spouse(s) | John Jefferys |
| Children | 2 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Molecular and cellular biochemistry |
| Institutions | University of Oxford University College London Merton College, Oxford |
| Thesis | Comparative biochemistry and physiology of the short and long forms of Proteus mirabilis (1976) |
Judith Patricia Armitage, born in 1951, is a British scientist. She is a molecular and cellular biochemist at the University of Oxford. This means she studies the tiny parts of living things and how they work. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), which is a very important honour for scientists.
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Early Life and School
Judith Armitage was born on February 21, 1951, in Shelley, England. She went to Selby Girls' High School. This was a grammar school, which means it was a special type of school for students who passed an entrance exam.
Later, her school became Selby Grammar School, which included both boys and girls.
University Studies
In 1972, Judy Armitage earned her first degree, a BSc, in microbiology from University College London. Microbiology is the study of very tiny living things, like bacteria.
She continued her studies and received her PhD in 1976. Her PhD research focused on a type of bacteria called Proteus mirabilis. After getting her PhD, she stayed at University College London to do more research.
Research and Career
Professor Armitage's main research is about how bacteria move. She studies how they use tiny, spinning tails called flagella to swim around. She also looks at how bacteria sense their surroundings. This sensing helps them move towards good things, like food, and away from bad things. This process is called chemotaxis.
In 1985, she became a Lecturer in Biochemistry at the University of Oxford. She was made a Professor of Biochemistry in 1996.
Leadership Roles
Professor Armitage is a Fellow at Merton College, Oxford. This means she is a senior member of the college. Since 2006, she has also been the Director of the Oxford University Centre for Integrative Systems Biology. This center brings together different types of science to study living systems.
In 2019, she was chosen to be the President of the Microbiology Society. This is a big role in the world of microbiology.
Awards and Honours
Professor Armitage has received many awards for her important work.
- In 1982, she was given a Lister Institute Research Fellowship.
- In 2010, she became a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation.
- In 2011, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. She also became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.
- In 2013, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is one of the highest honours for a scientist in the UK.
Why She Was Honoured
Her nomination for the Royal Society explained her important discoveries. She helped us understand how bacteria are organized inside. She used special tools, like microscopes and genetics, to see how tiny proteins control how bacteria sense and move.
She found a new system that helps proteins move to the right places inside bacteria. This system helps bacteria control their sensing pathways. Her work also showed how the spinning motors that help bacteria swim actually work. She discovered that parts of these motors are constantly being exchanged. This changed how scientists understood bacterial movement.
