Angela Charlotte Roberts is a British neurobiologist who is a professor of physiology at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Her research considers the neural circuits that underpin cognition and emotion. She leads the Cambridge Marmoset Research Centre. She was awarded the 2020 Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Neuroscience.

Early life and education

Roberts studied neurobiology at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. She moved to the

for doctoral research, where she worked on

neuroendocrine Neuroendocrine cells are cells that receive neuronal input (through neurotransmitters released by nerve cells or neurosecretory cells) and, as a consequence of this input, release messenger molecules ( hormones) into the blood. In this way they b ...

control of reproduction with Joseph Herbert. She then worked as a postdoctoral research associate with

Trevor Robbins Trevor William Robbins CBE FRS FMedSci (born 26 November 1949) is a professor of cognitive neuroscience and the former Head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge. Robbins interests are in the fields of cognitive neuro ...

and was awarded a

Royal Society University Research Fellowship __NOTOC__ The Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF) is a research fellowship awarded to outstanding early career scientists in the United Kingdom who are judged by the Royal Society to have the potential to become leaders in their fie ...

. Her postdoctoral research considered the neural and neurochemical basis of cognitive flexibility in marmosets. In 1996, she joined the Department of Anatomy, where she started to explore emotion regulation.

Research and career

Roberts' research considers behavioural neuroscience. She was made a professor at the

in 2010. She was the first to identify different forms of cognitive flexibility in the prefrontal cortex, and to show that they had different sensitivities to neurochemicals (e.g. dopamine and serotonin). She combines neural, pharmacological, cardiovascular and genetic techniques to understand the basal ganglia and amygdala. Roberts is scientific lead of the Cambridge Marmoset Research Centre at Cambridge.

Awards and honours

* 2016 Fellowship of the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academy, National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its ...

* 2020 Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Neuroscience * 2020 European Brain and Behaviour Prize lecture

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Angela Living people British neurologists Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of Sussex Women neurologists Academics of the University of Cambridge British women biologists 20th-century British biologists 20th-century British women scientists 21st-century British biologists 21st-century British women scientists Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Year of birth missing (living people)