Elizabeth Patton

Last updated
Elizabeth Patton

PhD FRSE
Born
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Other namesE.Elizabeth Patton, Liz Patton
Education Dalhousie University, University of Toronto, Harvard Medical School, University of Oxford
Occupation(s)professor of chemical genetics, Personal Chair of Melanoma Genetics and Drug Discovery
EmployerMRC Human Genetics Unit
Awards Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 2021

Elizabeth Patton, Ph.D FRSE is professor of chemical genetics and group leader of Medical Research Council Institute for Genetics and Molecular Medicine (IGMM) Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh, Personal Chair of Melanoma Genetics and Drug Discovery for a disease which kills 20,000 Europeans a year, and accounts for 80% of all skin cancer deaths. [1] Her research into the genetic models and drug interactions testing, sharing international findings, is mainly using zebrafish in conjunction with the Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre. She holds a number of academic leadership roles in UK, Europe and international scientific bodies. [2]

Contents

In 2021, she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [3]

Biography

E. Elizabeth Patton was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and completed her bachelor of science (honours) degree at King's College Dalhousie University, before undertaking her doctorate at the University of Toronto, with Michael Tyers on how E3 ubiquitin ligases control cell division. [4] She won a Human Frontier Science Programme postdoctoral fellowship (2001-2004) working with Leonard Zon at Harvard Medical School and a Medical Research Council fellowship [5] to the University of Oxford, [3] developing BRAF zebrafish model for melanoma, which is now used globally. She heads her own lab at the MRC Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh. [6] [2]

Patton is on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine and helps selecting young scientists for the Lister Prize. [7] In 2020, Patton was successfully appointed Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal, Disease Models & Mechanisms with Elaine Mardis as Deputy Editor-in-Chief. [6] On being elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2021), Professor Patton is serving on the RSE Industry Working Group. [3]

Earlier in her career (2012) she collaborated with colleagues at St. Andrews University on understanding drug mechanisms in the treatment of sleeping sickness and similar diseases. [8] In April 2013, she was made a member of the Young Academy of Scotland. [9]

Now with her own MRC laboratory, the ongoing focus of study is zebrafish genetic / drug interactions and melanocyte and melanoma biology, which aims to translate to human genetics or medical advances. [5] [10] In 2013 she said, "The thrill of discovery is what keeps scientists going, especially when we’re on the road to being able to provide cures and better therapies." [5] Patton was the first President of the international Zebrafish Disease Models Society (2013-2015) [1] and co-leads their Drug Discovery Research Interest Group, [11] as well as holding leadership roles in the European Zebrafish Society and the Society for Melanoma Research, of which she is Secretary. [12] She is on the Medical Review Panel of the Canadian international award organisation, the Gairdner Foundation. [13]

In 2016 she co-edited Zebrafish - Methods and Protocols in the Methods in Molecular Biology textbook series. [14]

From 2017-18, Patton was a supervisor in OPTIMA (4 year programme) an EPSRC and MRC co-funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Optical Medical Imaging for cutting-edge optical technology to address key clinical questions via medical imaging (hosted both at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Strathclyde). [15]

The Melanoma Research Alliance and L'Oreal Paris funded her research, as described to the readers of Stylist magazine in 2018, [16] and she was interviewed by the Melanoma Association about the possibilities for Women in STEM. [17] She was a speaker at the European Society for Dermatological Research in 2019. [18] In 2020 she also spoke about why her work was with animal models. [19] Patton is also one of the UK Pharmacogenetics & Stratified Medicine Network which brings clinical, academic and industry parties together. [20]

In 2021, as well as becoming a FRSE, and her research findings continuing, [21] Patton will serve on the UK Medical Research Council Molecular & Cellular Medicine Board. [22]

She is married to an academic specialist in Greek literature and papyrology, and has a son and daughter. [5]

Selected publications from Patton laboratory

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References

  1. 1 2 "Liz Patton Research Group". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  2. 1 2 "E. Elizabeth Patton". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  3. 1 2 3 "Professor Elizabeth Patton FRSE". The Royal Society of Edinburgh. 2021-05-05. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  4. ↑ "Professor Liz Patton". Molecular Genetics - University of Toronto. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Patton, L. (2013-11-01). "Using zebrafish to shed light on melanoma: an interview with Liz Patton". Disease Models & Mechanisms. 6 (6): 1303–1306. doi:10.1242/dmm.014340. ISSN   1754-8403. PMC   3820254 . PMID   24203994.
  6. 1 2 "Editor biographies | Disease Models & Mechanisms | The Company of Biologists | Disease Models & Mechanisms | The Company of Biologists". journals.biologists.com. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  7. ↑ "Royal Society of Edinburgh announces both Lister Fellow and SAC Member as 2021 Fellows". Lister Institute. 2021-04-27. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  8. ↑ "How Scottish scientists could help 'neglected diseases' in poor nations". news.st-andrews.ac.uk. 2012-07-30. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  9. ↑ Scotl, Young Academy of (2013-03-14). "RSE Young Academy of Scotland Welcomes 50 New Members". Young Academy of Scotland. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  10. ↑ "Elizabeth Patton". University of Edinburgh Research Explorer. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  11. ↑ "Drug Discovery". ZDMS. Archived from the original on 2021-08-11.
  12. ↑ "Society for Melanoma Research - Officers". www.societymelanomaresearch.org. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  13. ↑ "The Gairdner Foundation Team". Gairdner Foundation. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  14. ↑ Kawakami, Koichi; Pattons, E. Elizabeth; Orger, Michael, eds. (2016). Zebrafish: Methods and Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology. Vol. 1451 (2 ed.). Humana Press. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-3771-4. ISBN   978-1-4939-3769-1. S2CID   239159408.
  15. ↑ "Supervisors OPTIMA". PhD supervisors of OPTIMA. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  16. ↑ Keegan, Hannah (2018-03-05). "Woman of the Week: cancer research scientist Dr Liz Patton". Stylist. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  17. ↑ Women in STEM - Society for Melanoma Research - Dr. Liz Patton, PhD , retrieved 2021-08-11
  18. ↑ "Liz Patton « 2021 ESDR Annual Meeting" . Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  19. ↑ Patton, E. Elizabeth (26 February 2020). "What role do animal models play in developing next-generation melanoma therapies?". Melanoma Research Alliance. Archived from the original on 2011-11-12. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  20. ↑ "Dr E Elizabeth Patton of the MRC Human Genetics Unit". UK Pharmacogenetics & Stratified Medicine Network. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  21. ↑ Patton, E. Elizabeth (2021-02-01). "The twin pillars of Disease Models & Mechanisms". Disease Models & Mechanisms. 14 (2): dmm048951. doi:10.1242/dmm.048951. ISSN   1754-8403. PMC   7927655 . PMID   33619213.
  22. ↑ Medical Research Council, M. R. C. (2021-04-14). "Molecular & Cellular Medicine Board". mrc.ukri.org. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  23. ↑ Lopez-Baez, Juan Carlos; Simpson, Daniel J.; Forero, Laura LLeras; Zeng, Zhiqiang; Brunsdon, Hannah; Salzano, Angela; Brombin, Alessandro; Rybski, Witold; Wyatt, Cameron; Huitema, Leonie F. A.; Dale, Rodney M. (2018-02-13). "Wilms Tumor 1b defines a wound-specific sheath cell subpopulation associated with notochord repair". eLife. 7: e30657. doi: 10.7554/eLife.30657 . ISSN   2050-084X. PMC   5811212 . PMID   29405914.
  24. ↑ Al-Olabi, Lara; Polubothu, Satyamaanasa; Dowsett, Katherine; Andrews, Katrina A.; Stadnik, Paulina; Joseph, Agnel P.; Knox, Rachel; Pittman, Alan; Clark, Graeme; Baird, William; Bulstrode, Neil (2018-04-02). "Mosaic RAS/MAPK variants cause sporadic vascular malformations which respond to targeted therapy". The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 128 (4): 1496–1508. doi:10.1172/JCI98589. ISSN   0021-9738. PMC   5873857 . PMID   29461977.
  25. ↑ Sarvi, Sana; Crispin, Richard; Lu, Yuting; Zeng, Lifan; Hurley, Thomas D.; Houston, Douglas R.; von Kriegsheim, Alex; Chen, Che-Hong; Mochly-Rosen, Daria; Ranzani, Marco; Mathers, Marie E. (December 2018). "ALDH1 Bio-activates Nifuroxazide to Eradicate ALDHHigh Melanoma-Initiating Cells". Cell Chemical Biology. 25 (12): 1456–1469.e6. doi:10.1016/j.chembiol.2018.09.005. ISSN   2451-9456. PMC   6309505 . PMID   30293938.
  26. ↑ Travnickova, Jana; Wojciechowska, Sonia; Khamseh, Ava; Gautier, Philippe; Brown, Daniel V.; Lefevre, Thomas; Brombin, Alessandro; Ewing, Ailith; Capper, Amy; Spitzer, Michaela; Dilshat, Ramile (2019-11-15). "Zebrafish MITF-Low Melanoma Subtype Models Reveal Transcriptional Subclusters and MITF-Independent Residual Disease". Cancer Research. 79 (22): 5769–5784. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-19-0037. ISSN   0008-5472. PMC   7116150 . PMID   31582381.
  27. ↑ Johansson, Jeanette A.; Marie, Kerrie L.; Lu, Yuting; Brombin, Alessandro; Santoriello, Cristina; Zeng, Zhiqiang; Zich, Judith; Gautier, Philippe; von Kriegsheim, Alex; Brunsdon, Hannah; Wheeler, Ann P. (August 2020). "PRL3-DDX21 Transcriptional Control of Endolysosomal Genes Restricts Melanocyte Stem Cell Differentiation". Developmental Cell. 54 (3): 317–332.e9. doi:10.1016/j.devcel.2020.06.013. ISSN   1534-5807. PMC   7435699 . PMID   32652076.
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