Professor Elizabeth Simpson elected Fellow of the Royal Society

Emeritus Professor of Transplantation Biology, Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre and Senior Research Investigator, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London

Emeritus Professor of Transplantation Biology, Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre and Senior Research Investigator, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London

Professor Simpson is distinguished for her elucidation of the nature of male-associated minor transplantation antigens, and their roles in the generation of immunological tolerance, graft versus host disease, and transplant rejection. Her research has been into the question of how immune responses are balanced between 'go' and 'stop'. People need their immune responses in 'go' mode to protect them from infections, but to 'slow down' or 'stop' when it comes to transplants or autoimmune disease. Professor Simpson generated a model system of transplantation to examine the response to a 'weak' antigen where the balance is delicate.

Her seminal contributions have paved the way for detailed understanding of regulatory mechanisms operating in transplantation tolerance and have led to therapeutic strategies to harness such mechanisms.  Further details can be found here.