Professor Jordan Raff elected Fellow of the Royal Society

The College is proud to announce that Professor Jordan Raff has been elected Fellow of the Royal Society; a prestigious honour which recognises his contribution to centrosome biology.

Much of Professor Raff’s work is focused on the function and formation of centrosomes; tiny intracellular structures that help organise the 'skeleton' inside cells. By studying how centrosomes assemble in fly embryos, Professor Raff and his team discovered that fruit flies with too many centrosomes are predisposed to tumours, suggesting a causative link between centrosome amplification and cancer. Their research also revealed that fruit flies can proceed through most of development without centrosomes, challenging the pre-existing notion that centrosomes are essential for cell division.

Professor Raff’s leading role in the field of centriole and centrosome biology has also been recently acknowledged by the Biochemical Society with an Excellence in Science Award. He has been César Milstein Professor of Molecular Cancer Biology at the Dunn School of Pathology and a Fellow of Lincoln College since 2009.

'The award of a Fellowship of the Society is a mark of great scientific distinction. I am sure we shall all want warmly to congratulate Jordan on this richly deserved honour.' – Professor H.R. Woudhuysen, Rector