Elizabeth Fisher (neuroscientist)
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Elizabeth Mary Claire Fisher is a British geneticist and Professor at
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
. Her research investigates the degeneration of motor neurons during
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, Terminal illness, terminal neurodegenerative disease, neurodegenerative disorder that results i ...
and
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
triggered by Down syndrome.


Education

Fisher studied physiological sciences at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
where she was an undergraduate student at
St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. ...
in 1981. After completing her undergraduate studies Fisher left science and trained as a typist and worked in several different jobs in UK and Australia and in 1983 moved to
Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...
, where she worked on mouse molecular genetics. At
St Mary's Hospital, London St Mary's Hospital is a teaching hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust ...
Fisher completed microdissection on the mouse
X chromosome The X chromosome is one of the two sex chromosomes in many organisms, including mammals, and is found in both males and females. It is a part of the XY sex-determination system and XO sex-determination system. The X chromosome was named for its u ...
. During her doctoral research she worked alongside Mary F. Lyon and Stephen Brown at the Medical Research Council in Harwell. She dissected individual chromosomes and cloned DNA fragments into
plasmid A plasmid is a small, extrachromosomal DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently. They are most commonly found as small circular, double-stranded DNA molecules in bacteria and ...
s.


Career and research

After graduating from Imperial College London in 1986, Fisher moved to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, where she was appointed a postdoctoral fellow at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
(MIT). At MIT, Fisher worked on
Turner syndrome Turner syndrome (TS), commonly known as 45,X, or 45,X0,Also written as 45,XO. is a chromosomal disorder in which cells of females have only one X chromosome instead of two, or are partially missing an X chromosome (sex chromosome monosomy) lea ...
as a postdoc in the lab of David C. Page at the
Whitehead Institute Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research institute located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States that is dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research. It was founded as a fiscally indep ...
. Her early work looked at the male sex determining factor and then considered the genes responsible for Turner syndrome. Fisher returned to Imperial College London in 1990, when she 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 ...
to start an independent research group looking at
aneuploidy Aneuploidy is the presence of an abnormal number of chromosomes in a cell (biology), cell, for example a human somatic (biology), somatic cell having 45 or 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46. It does not include a difference of one or more plo ...
. In collaboration with Victor Tybulewicz of the MRC, she was awarded
Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...
research funding in 1991, which allowed her to expand her research into creating a new mouse model of Down syndrome. In 2001 Fisher was appointed Professor at
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
and in 2017 she also set up a lab at the Medical Research Council Mammalian Genetics Unit in Harwell. Her research considers motor neuron degeneration, genome editing and the development of mouse models to understand neurological disorders. Fisher received the 2011 Faculty Member of the Year Award for Neurological Disorders on
Faculty of 1000 F1000 (formerly "Faculty of 1000") is an open research publisher for scientists, scholars, and clinical researchers. F1000 offers a different research evaluation service from standard academic journals by offering peer-review after, rather than ...
(F1000) and an Addgene Blue Flame Award in 2017 for depositing a plasmid that has been shared more than 100 times. Fisher serves as an academic editor on the journal '' PLoS Genetics'' and on the boards for the journals Disease Models and Mechanism and Mammalian Genome. She is also on the Board of the Guarantors of Brain, a UK-based charity, and Mouse News Letter. In 2003, work from Fisher's lab provided one of the first demonstrations in a mammalian model of the link between defects in retrograde transport and neurodegeneration. In a paper published in ''Science'', Fisher found that two spontaneous mouse mutants generated from an ENU (N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea) screen harbored missense point mutations in the cytoplasmic
dynein Dyneins are a family of cytoskeletal motor proteins (though they are actually protein complexes) that move along microtubules in cells. They convert the chemical energy stored in ATP to mechanical work. Dynein transports various cellular cargo ...
heavy chain gene. In cells, dynein is the motor protein that moves cargos toward the minus end of microtubules. These mutants were named ''Loa'' (''Legs at odd angles'') and ''Cra1'' (''Cramping 1'') due to the phenotypes of body twisting and hindlimb clenching when suspended by the tail. Heterozygotes show locomotion defects with neuronal loss. Homozygotes are unable to feed and move and die within 24 hours of birth, but embryonic neurons have intracellular inclusions that are positive for ubiquitin, SOD, CDK5, and neurofilament. Fisher and Tybulewicz have demonstrated that mouse models can be used to understand the genes that give rise to aspects of Down syndrome. Fisher and Tybulewicz were the first to successfully introduce an almost full-length human chromosome into mice – a significant technical achievement, as it had previously only been possible to introduce small fragments of chromosomes. People with Down syndrome, a condition which occurs due to
trisomy A trisomy is a type of polysomy in which there are three instances of a particular chromosome, instead of the normal two. A trisomy is a type of aneuploidy (an abnormal number of chromosomes). Description and causes Most organisms that reprod ...
of
Chromosome 21 Chromosome 21 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. Chromosome 21 is both the smallest human autosome and chromosome, with 46.7 million base pairs (the building material of DNA) representing about 1.5 percent of the total DNA in cell ...
, are particularly susceptible to
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
. The mouse models that Fisher and Tybulewicz created have allowed scientists to study the genes responsible for complex conditions. Fisher and Tybulewicz have investigated a series of proteins that are dosage sensitive in Down syndrome models including those modified by Alzheimer's disease and impacted by trisomy. Fisher develops new models for
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, Terminal illness, terminal neurodegenerative disease, neurodegenerative disorder that results i ...
(ALS) that arise from genetic mutations. ALS is a form of
motor neuron disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...
that mainly occurs during middle age. Whilst it is well known that certain genes cause motor neuron disease, it is not clear how. Working with Medical Research Council Harwell; Fisher has described several novel mouse models including those genome engineered to have genomically humanised "ALS" genes, including FUS,
SOD1 Superoxide dismutase u-Zn'' also known as superoxide dismutase 1 or hSod1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''SOD1'' gene, located on chromosome 21. SOD1 is one of three human superoxide dismutases. It is implicated in apoptosis, fami ...
,
TARDBP Transactive response DNA binding protein 43 kDa (TAR DNA-binding protein 43 or TDP-43) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TARDBP'' gene. Structure TDP-43 is 414 amino acid residues long. It consists of four domains: an N-term ...
(TDP-43), and part of
C9orf72 C9orf72 (chromosome 9 open reading frame 72) is a protein which in humans is encoded by the gene ''C9orf72''. The human ''C9orf72'' gene is located on the short (p) arm of chromosome 9 open reading frame 72, from base pair 27,546,546 to base pa ...
, to look at the molecular changes that occur during ALS. She has investigated how the
RNA-binding protein RNA-binding proteins (often abbreviated as RBPs) are proteins that bind to the double or single stranded RNA in cell (biology), cells and participate in forming ribonucleoprotein complexes. RBPs contain various structural motifs, such as RNA reco ...
mutant FUS behaves in mouse models. Fisher was on the Council 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 ...
and is a member of the Board of the
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) is an impartial research and knowledge exchange service based in the Parliament of the United Kingdom POST serves both Houses of Parliament (the House of Commons and the House of Lords). ...
.


Selected publications

* ''Homologous ribosomal protein genes on the human X and Y chromosomes: escape from X inactivation and possible implications for Turner syndrome'' * ''The sex-determining region of the human Y chromosome encodes a finger protein'' * ''Genealogies of mouse inbred strains'' * ''Mutations in the endosomal ESCRTIII-complex subunit CHMP2B in frontotemporal dementia'' * ''Balancing selection at the prion protein gene consistent with prehistoric kuru-like epidemics''


Awards and honours

She was elected a
Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) is an award for medical scientists who are judged by the UK Academy of Medical Sciences for the "excellence of their science, their contribution to medicine and society and the range of the ...
(FMedSci) in 2007 and a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology Fellowship of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB), previously Fellowship of the Society of Biology (FSB), is an award and fellowship granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Biology has adjudged to have made a "prominent contribution to t ...
(FRSB) in 2010. She was made a
Faculty of 1000 F1000 (formerly "Faculty of 1000") is an open research publisher for scientists, scholars, and clinical researchers. F1000 offers a different research evaluation service from standard academic journals by offering peer-review after, rather than ...
member in 2010. In 2013 she was elected to Academia Net. In 2019 Fisher appeared on ''
The Life Scientific ''The Life Scientific'' is a BBC Radio 4 science programme, presented by Jim Al-Khalili, in which each episode is dedicated to the biography and work of a living scientist. The programme consists of an interview between Al-Khalili and the featur ...
''.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Elizabeth Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) British neuroscientists Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology British women neuroscientists Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of Imperial College London Royal Society University Research Fellows