FRANCES ASHCROFT

Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics

Dame Frances researches ion channels, a type of membrane protein in cells, to find out how they contribute to diabetes. She focuses on the role which certain ion channels play in insulin secretion, in both health and disease. The ultimate goal is to shed light on the way that increased blood sugar stimulates the release of insulin from the cells in the pancreas, what goes wrong with this process in type 2 diabetes, and how drugs used to treat this condition exert their beneficial effects.