{{Short description|British neuroscientist (born 1959)}} {{Use British English|date=August 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Russell Foster | image = Russell_G_Foster_-_EdSciFest_2014_(20).JPG | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1959|08|19}} | birth_place = Aldershot, Hampshire, England | workplaces = University of Oxford | alma_mater = University of Bristol | thesis_title = An investigation of the extraretinal photoreceptors mediating photoperiodic induction in the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) | thesis_url = http://pmt-eu.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?doc=44BU_LMS_DS000380488&vid=44BU_VU1 | thesis_year = 1978 | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = Brian Follett | awards = Honma Prize (Japan), David G. Cogan Award (USA), Zoological Society Scientific and Edridge-Green Medals (UK) | website = {{URL|https://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/about-brasenose/academic-staff/445-professor-russell-foster}} | spouse = | children = | honorific_suffix = CBE, FRS FMedSci | field = Neuroscience | doctoral_student = }}
'''Russell Grant Foster''' (born 1959)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dellam.com/english/CH/CHELTENHAM+FESTIVALS.html|title=Dellam Corporate Information Limited, England|first=Professor|last=Footprint}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=Killian Fox |title=Sleep scientist Russell Foster: 'I want to take the anxiety around sleep away' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/25/sleep-scientist-russell-foster-i-want-to-take-the-anxiety-around-sleep-away |website=The Guardian |access-date=25 June 2022 |date=25 June 2022}}</ref> is a British professor of circadian neuroscience, the Director of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology and the Head of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNi).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/team/russell-foster|title=Russell Foster – Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences|publisher=University of Oxford|language=en|access-date=2017-04-13}}</ref> He is also a Nicholas Kurti Senior Fellow at Brasenose College<ref>https://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/about-brasenose/news/1322-professor-russell-foster-cbe Professor Russell Foster, Brasenose College</ref> at the University of Oxford.<ref name="Oxford" /> Foster and his group are credited with key contributions to the discovery of the non-rod, non-cone, photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (pRGCs) in the mammalian retina which provide input to the circadian rhythm system. He has written and co-authored over a hundred scientific publications.<ref name="Oxford">{{cite web|url=https://www.neuroscience.ox.ac.uk/research-directory/russell-foster|title=Russell Foster, BSc, PhD, FRS|year=2008|work=Oxford Neuroscience|publisher=The Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford|access-date=2010-01-24}}</ref>
Since 2018 he has been Editor-in-Chief of the Royal Society journal ''Interface Focus''.
==Biography==
=== Education === Foster was born in Aldershot. He attended Heron Wood School. In 1980, he took a BSc in Zoology from the University of Bristol. In 1984, he gained a PhD from Bristol, supervisor Brian Follett. His thesis was ''An investigation of the extraretinal photoreceptors mediating photoperiodic induction in the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica).''<ref>{{Cite journal|last2=Follett|first2=B. K.|last3=Lythgoe|first3=J. N.|year=1985|title=Rhodopsin-like sensitivity of extra-retinal photoreceptors mediating the photoperiodic response in quail|journal=Nature|volume=313|issue=5997|pages=50–52|last1=Foster|first1=R. G.|doi=10.1038/313050a0|pmid=3965970|bibcode=1985Natur.313...50F|s2cid=4257141}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Konishi | first1 = H. | last2 = Foster | first2 = R. G. | last3 = Follett | first3 = B. K. | doi = 10.1007/BF00615251 | pmid = 3625579 | title = Evidence for a daily rhythmicity in the acute release of luteinizing hormone in response to electrical stimulation in the Japanese quail | journal = Journal of Comparative Physiology A | volume = 161 | issue = 2 | pages = 315–319 | year = 1987 | s2cid = 1689119 }}</ref>
=== Career === From 1988 to 1995 Foster was a member of the National Science Foundation Center for Biological Rhythms at the University of Virginia, where he worked closely with Michael Menaker.<ref name=":1" /> In 1995, he returned to UK and started his own lab at Imperial College, where he became Chair of Molecular Neuroscience within the Faculty of Medicine. He later transferred his laboratory to the University of Oxford to engage in more translational research.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/research/research-in-conversation/healthy-body-healthy-mind/russell-foster|title=Professor Russell Foster {{!}} University of Oxford|publisher=University of Oxford|language=en|access-date=2017-04-13}}</ref>
==Scientific works== === Transplanted suprachiasmatic nucleus determines circadian period === While at the University of Virginia, Foster and Menaker performed experiments where the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) was tested by neural transplantation of donor's SCN to a recipient with an ablated SCN. In the experiment, the donor was a mutant strain of hamster with a shortened circadian period. The recipient was a wild-type hamster. Transplantation was done the other way around as well, with wild-type hamster as the donor and mutant strain hamster as the recipient. After the transplantation, the formerly wild-type hamster displayed a shortened period which resembled the mutant, and the mutant-strain hamster showed normal period. The SCN restored rhythm to arrhythmic recipients, which afterwards always exhibited the circadian period of the donor. This result led to the conclusion that the SCN is sufficient and necessary for mammalian circadian rhythms.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ralph|first1=M. R.|last2=Foster|first2=R. G.|last3=Davis|first3=F. C.|last4=Menaker|first4=M.|date=23 February 1990|title=Transplanted suprachiasmatic nucleus determines circadian period|journal=Science|volume=247|issue=4945|pages=975–978|issn=0036-8075|pmid=2305266|doi=10.1126/science.2305266|bibcode=1990Sci...247..975R}}</ref>
=== Rods and cones unnecessary for entrainment === In 1991, Foster and his colleagues provided evidence that rods and cones are not necessary for entrainment of an animal to light.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Foster|first1=R. G.|last2=Provencio|first2=I.|last3=Hudson|first3=D.|last4=Fiske|first4=S.|last5=De Grip|first5=W.|last6=Menaker|first6=M.|date=1 July 1991|title=Circadian photoreception in the retinally degenerate mouse (rd/rd)|journal=Journal of Comparative Physiology A |volume=169|issue=1|pages=39–50|pmid=1941717|doi=10.1007/bf00198171|s2cid=1124159}}</ref> In this experiment, Foster gave light pulses to retinally degenerative mice. These mice were homozygous for the ''rd'' allele and were shown to have no rods in their retina. Only a few cones were found to remain in the retina. To study the effects of light entrainment, magnitude of phase shift of locomotor activity was measured. The results showed that both mice with normal retina and mice with degenerate retina showed similar entrainment patterns. Foster hypothesized that circadian photoreception occurs with a small number of cones without an outer layer or that an unrecognised class of photoreceptive cells are present.
In 1999, Foster studied light entrainment on mice without cones or both rods and cones.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lucas|first1=R. J.|last2=Freedman|first2=M. S.|last3=Muñoz|first3=M.|last4=Garcia-Fernández|first4=J. M.|last5=Foster|first5=R. G.|date=16 April 1999|title=Regulation of the mammalian pineal by non-rod, non-cone, ocular photoreceptors|journal=Science|volume=284|issue=5413|pages=505–507|issn=0036-8075|pmid=10205062|doi=10.1126/science.284.5413.505|bibcode=1999Sci...284..505L}}</ref> Mice without cones or without both photoreceptive cells (''rd/rd cl'' allele) still entrained to light. Meanwhile, mice with eyes removed could not entrain to light. Foster concluded that rods and cones are unnecessary for entrainment to light, and that the murine eye contains additional photoreceptive cell types. Later studies showed that melanopsin expressing photoreceptive retinal ganglion cells (pGRCs) were accountable for non-rod, non-cone entrainment to light.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ruby|first1=Norman F.|last2=Brennan|first2=Thomas J.|last3=Xie|first3=Xinmin|last4=Cao|first4=Vinh|last5=Franken|first5=Paul|last6=Heller|first6=H. Craig|last7=O'Hara|first7=Bruce F.|date=13 December 2002|title=Role of Melanopsin in Circadian Responses to Light|journal=Science|language=en|volume=298|issue=5601|pages=2211–2213|doi=10.1126/science.1076701|issn=0036-8075|pmid=12481140|bibcode=2002Sci...298.2211R|s2cid=39565298}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hattar|first1=S.|last2=Liao|first2=H.-W.|last3=Takao|first3=M.|last4=Berson|first4=D. M.|last5=Yau|first5=K.-W.|date=8 February 2002|title=Melanopsin-Containing Retinal Ganglion Cells: Architecture, Projections, and Intrinsic Photosensitivity|journal=Science|language=en|volume=295|issue=5557|pages=1065–1070|doi=10.1126/science.1069609|issn=0036-8075|pmc=2885915|pmid=11834834|bibcode=2002Sci...295.1065H}}</ref>
== Literary works == He is the co-author with writer and broadcaster Leon Kreitzman of two popular science books on circadian rhythms, ''Rhythms of Life: The Biological Clocks that Control the Daily Lives of Every Living Thing''<ref>{{cite book|title=Rhythms of life: the biological clocks that control the daily lives of every living thing|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-300-10969-6|location=New Haven, Conn|author=Leon Kreitzman; Russell G. Foster}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Harman|first=Oren|date=24 December 2008|title=Time After Time|url=http://www.tnr.com/article/books/time-after-time|format=Book Review|magazine=The New Republic|access-date=2009-07-05}}</ref> and ''Seasons of Life: The Biological Rhythms That Enable Living Things to Thrive and Survive''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Seasons of Life: The Biological Rhythms That Enable Living Things to Thrive and Survive|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-300-11556-7|location=New Haven, Conn|author=Leon Kreitzman; Russell G. Foster|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/seasonsoflifebio0000fost}}</ref> He has also co-written a book titled ''Sleep: a Very Short Introduction.''<ref>{{cite book|title=Sleep: a Very Short Introduction|publisher=OUP Oxford|year=2012|isbn=978-0-19958-785-8|location=Oxford|author=Stephen W. Lockley, Russell G. Foster}}</ref> He wrote ''Life Time : The New Science of the Body Clock, and How It Can Revolutionize Your Sleep and Health.''<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.telegraph.co.uk/Product/Russell-Foster/Life-Time--The-New-Science-of-the-Body-Clock-and-How-It-C/27161795 |title=Life Time : The New Science of the Body Clock, and How It Can Revolutionize Your Sleep and Health |date=2023-05-01 |isbn=978-0-241-52931-7 |language=en-gb |last1=Foster |first1=Russell |publisher=Penguin Books, Limited }}</ref>
==Awards and honours== Foster was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2008.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/russell-foster-11452/|title=Russell Foster {{!}} Royal Society|publisher=The Royal Society|access-date=2017-04-13}}</ref>
Foster was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to science.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=61092|supp=y|page=N9|date=31 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/391413/New_Year_Honours_List_2015.pdf|title=2015 New Year Honours List}}</ref>
Russell Foster was awarded with The Daylight Award 2020 in the category Daylight Research, for his clinical studies in humans addressing important questions regarding light.
=== Notable awards === Foster has received recognition from around the world for his discovery of pRGCs: * Honma Prize (Japan, 1997)<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://aschoff-honma.wixsite.com/ahmf/prize-winners|title=一般財団法人アショフ・ホンマ記念財団|access-date=2017-04-14}}</ref> * David G. Cogan Award (USA, 2001)<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Besharse|first=Joseph|year=2002|title=Introduction of Russell G. Foster, the 2001 Recipient of the David G. Cogan Award|url=http://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2123861|journal=Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci.|volume=43|issue=5 |page=1285 |pmid=11980835 }}</ref> * Zoological Society Scientific Medal (UK, 2000)<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/about-brasenose/academic-staff/445-professor-russell-foster|title=Professor Russell Foster|website=Brasenose College, University of Oxford}}</ref> * Edridge Green Medal (Royal College of Ophthalmologists, UK, 2005)<ref name=":2" /> * Peter C. Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=2015 Prize Recipient: Russell Grant Foster, CBE, FSB, FMedSci, FRS |url=https://sleep.hms.harvard.edu/news-events/hms-division-sleep-medicine-prize/prize-recipients/2015-prize-recipient-russell-grant |access-date=2024-01-14 |website=sleep.hms.harvard.edu |language=en}}</ref> * Nikken International Science Award for his expertise in the neuroscience of sleep.(2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Russell Foster receives Nikken International Science Award |url=https://www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/news/russell-foster-receives-nikken-international-science-award |access-date=2024-01-14 |website=www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> * The Daylight Award 2020, for Daylight Research
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/team/russell-foster Foster webpage] at Oxford University * {{TED speaker}} ** [https://www.ted.com/talks/russell_foster_why_do_we_sleep 'Why do we sleep?" (TEDGlobal 2013)]
{{FRS 2008}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Russell G.}} Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:Scientists from Aldershot Category:People educated at Alderwood School Category:British neuroscientists Category:Sleep researchers Category:Chronobiologists Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:British fellows of the Royal Society Category:Fellows of Brasenose College, Oxford Category:Alumni of the University of Bristol