Stem cell research wins Franklin Prize

Professor Ben Simons, College Supervisor in Physics, has been awarded the Franklin Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics.

Professor Simons' work on the physics of correlated electron systems, semiconductors and quantum chaos is highly admired within the scientific community. In the last decade, however, he has turned his attention to the world of Biology, with an emphasis on stem cell research.

Tissue maintenance and repair throughout the body relies upon stem cells, which differentiate into more specialized cell types while retaining their ability to renew themselves. In the process of homeostasis, stem cells must divide with precisely one half of their 'offspring' remaining in the stem cell compartment while the other half differentiates into a new cell type. Most studies have focused on resolving factors that lead to asymmetry in individual stem cells during this process. However, asymmetry may also be achieved at the population level by balancing stem cell loss with duplication, leading to a continual depletion in diversity.

Working closely with leading experimental labs, Professor Simons has used insights from statistical mechanics to describe the fate of stem cells during their self-renewal process. His studies showed that strategies of stem cell self-renewal can be separated into four classes, according to whether balance is achieved at the level of individual stem cells or the population, and whether regulation follows from autonomous processes within the cell or is mediated by signals from the environment. By combining long-term studies with experimental observation, Professor Simons has shown that the majority of tissues conform to population asymmetric self-renewal. This overturns long-held ideas in the scientific literature, and raises important questions for future research.

The Franklin Medal and Prize was established in 2008 by the Institute of Physics and is named in honour of Rosalind Franklin, who made important contributions to understanding DNA. The Prize is awarded biannually for "distinguished research in physics applied to the life sciences, including medical and biological physics".