Kate Storey facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kate Storey
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|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Sussex; University of Cambridge |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | neural development |
| Institutions | University of Dundee |
| Doctoral advisor | Mike Bate |
Kate Gillian Storey is a leading British scientist. She is a developmental biologist. This means she studies how living things grow and develop from a single cell. She is currently the head of the Cell & Developmental Biology division at the University of Dundee.
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Understanding How We Grow
Kate Storey's main research focuses on how our brains and nervous systems develop. She looks at the tiny parts inside cells and how they work together. Her early work found a key "switch" that tells cells when and where to start becoming nerve cells in a growing embryo.
More recently, her team discovered how a signal called Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) helps cells turn on the right genes. This is important for making sure nerve cells form correctly.
Watching Cells in Action
Kate Storey also works with another scientist, Jason Swedlow. They have created new ways to watch cells as they grow and change. These special techniques allow them to see how cells behave inside developing tissues.
Using these methods, they found a new way cells divide. They called it "apical abscission." This process helps new nerve cells form and separate from other cells.
Kate Storey's Journey in Science
Kate Storey has had an exciting career in science. After her university studies, she did special research called post-doctoral work. She worked with Professor David Weisblat at the University of California, Berkeley from 1987 to 1988. Later, she worked with Claudio Daniel Stern at the University of Oxford from 1990 to 1994.
In 1994, she started her own research career at Christ Church, Oxford. Then, in 2000, she moved to the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee. There, she became a Professor of Neural Development in 2007. Since 2010, she has been the head of her division.
Awards and Recognition
Kate Storey has been recognized for her important scientific work. She was chosen as a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2012. She also joined the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2016 and the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2017. These are groups of top scientists.
She received the MRC Suffrage Science Heirloom Award in 2014. In 2015, she was given a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. In May 2022, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is one of the highest honors for a scientist in the UK. Her research has been supported by many important organizations, like the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council.
Science Meets Art
Kate Storey has also worked on projects that combine science and art. One famous project was with her sister, Helen Storey, who is an artist.
Their most well-known work is called "Primitive Streak." It was created in 1997. The name comes from a structure that helps organize the early human embryo. This art exhibition showed the first 1000 hours of human embryonic development. It used a series of dresses and textiles to explain this amazing process in a creative way.
