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Frances M. Ashcroft

Frances M. Ashcroft

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Best Female Scientists
2025

D-Index & Metrics

Best Female Scientists

D-Index
110
Citations
51504
World Ranking
880
National Ranking
88

Medicine

D-Index
112
Citations
52638
World Ranking
5107
National Ranking
502

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2025 - Research.com Best Female Scientists Award
  • 2001 - Member of Academia Europaea
  • 1999 - Fellow of the Royal Society, United Kingdom
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)

Overview

Frances M. Ashcroft is affiliated with the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and has contributed extensively to research in medicine and biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology. Their work focuses primarily on molecular biology, surgery, endocrinology, diabetes, metabolism, pathology, forensic medicine, and public health.

The scientist's main research topics include pancreatic function and diabetes, cardiac ischemia and reperfusion, ion channel regulation and function, hyperglycemia and glycemic control in critically ill and hospitalized patients, metabolism related to diabetes and cancer, diabetes management and research, as well as lipid membrane structure and behavior.

Frequent coauthors in their publications are Elizabeth Haythorne, Tanadet Pipatpolkai, Samuel Usher, Phillip J. Stansfeld, and Peter Proks.

Research papers authored or coauthored by Frances M. Ashcroft feature in notable venues such as:

  • Nature Reviews Endocrinology
  • Nature Communications
  • Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Diabetes

Significant recent papers include:

  • New insights into KATP channel gene mutations and neonatal diabetes mellitus, 2020, Nature Reviews Endocrinology
  • Altered glycolysis triggers impaired mitochondrial metabolism and mTORC1 activation in diabetic β-cells, 2022, Nature Communications
  • Glucokinase activity in diabetes: too much of a good thing?, 2022, Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism
  • Monitoring glycolytic dynamics in single cells using a fluorescent biosensor for fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • KATP Channels and the Metabolic Regulation of Insulin Secretion in Health and Disease: The 2022 Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement Award Lecture, 2023, Diabetes

Publication venues where Frances M. Ashcroft has contributed multiple articles include bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Diabetes, Biophysical Journal, Wellcome Open Research, and Nature Reviews Endocrinology.

Ashcroft has been recognized with memberships and fellowships in scientific organizations such as the Royal Society, the Academia Europaea, and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).

Best Publications

  • The Obesity-Associated FTO Gene Encodes a 2-Oxoglutarate–Dependent Nucleic Acid Demethylase

    Thomas Gerken;Christophe A. Girard;Yi-Chun Loraine Tung;Celia J. Webby

  • Glucose induces closure of single potassium channels in isolated rat pancreatic beta-cells.

    Frances M. Ashcroft;Donna E. Harrison;Stephen J. H. Ashcroft

  • Activating Mutations in the Gene Encoding the ATP-Sensitive Potassium-Channel Subunit Kir6.2 and Permanent Neonatal Diabetes

    Anna L Gloyn;Ewan R. Pearson;Jennifer F. Antcliff;Peter Proks

  • Electrophysiology of the pancreatic beta-cell.

    Frances M. Ashcroft;Patrik Rorsman

  • Adenosine 5'-triphosphate-sensitive potassium channels

    F M Ashcroft

  • Diabetes Mellitus and the β Cell: The Last Ten Years

    Frances M. Ashcroft;Patrik Rorsman;Patrik Rorsman

  • Switching from insulin to oral sulfonylureas in patients with diabetes due to Kir6.2 mutations.

    Ewan R Pearson;Isabelle Flechtner;Pål R Njølstad;Maciej T Malecki

  • Truncation of Kir6.2 produces ATP-sensitive K + channels in the absence of the sulphonylurea receptor

    Stephen J. Tucker;Fiona M. Gribble;Chao Zhao;Stefan Trapp

  • Overexpression of Fto leads to increased food intake and results in obesity.

    Chris Church;Lee Moir;Fiona McMurray;Christophe Girard

  • The essential role of the Walker A motifs of SUR1 in K‐ATP channel activation by Mg‐ADP and diazoxide

    Fiona M. Gribble;Stephen J. Tucker;Frances M. Ashcroft

  • ATP-sensitive potassium channelopathies: focus on insulin secretion.

    Frances M. Ashcroft

  • Tissue specificity of sulfonylureas: studies on cloned cardiac and beta-cell K(ATP) channels.

    F M Gribble;S J Tucker;S Seino;F M Ashcroft

  • Insulin Action in AgRP-Expressing Neurons Is Required for Suppression of Hepatic Glucose Production

    A Christine Konner;Ruth Janoschek;Leona Plum;Sabine Jordan

  • Ion channels and disease

    Frances Ashcroft

  • Pancreatic β-Cell Electrical Activity and Insulin Secretion: Of Mice and Men

    Patrik Rorsman;Patrik Rorsman;Frances M. Ashcroft;Frances M. Ashcroft

  • A point mutation inactivating the sulfonylurea receptor causes the severe form of persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy in Finland.

    Timo Otonkoski;Carina Ämmälä;Hanna Huopio;Hanna Huopio;Gilbert J. Cote

  • ATP-sensitive K+ channels in the hypothalamus are essential for the maintenance of glucose homeostasis.

    Takashi Miki;Birgit Liss;Kohtaro Minami;Tetsuya Shiuchi

  • Sulfonylurea Stimulation of Insulin Secretion

    Peter Proks;Frank Reimann;Nick Green;Fiona Gribble

  • ATP-sensitive K+ channels and insulin secretion: their role in health and disease.

    F. M. Ashcroft;F. M. Gribble

  • Correlating structure and function in ATP-sensitive K+ channels

    Frances M. Ashcroft;Fiona M. Gribble

Frequent Co-Authors

Fiona M. Gribble
Fiona M. Gribble University of Cambridge
Patrik Rorsman
Patrik Rorsman University of Oxford
Stephen J. Tucker
Stephen J. Tucker University of Oxford
Roger D. Cox
Roger D. Cox Medical Research Council
Frank Reimann
Frank Reimann University of Cambridge
Andrew T. Hattersley
Andrew T. Hattersley University of Exeter
Mark S.P. Sansom
Mark S.P. Sansom University of Oxford
Sian Ellard
Sian Ellard University of Exeter
Phillip J. Stansfeld
Phillip J. Stansfeld University of Warwick
Pål R. Njølstad
Pål R. Njølstad University of Bergen

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