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Russell Foster

Russell Grant Foster 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) at the University of Oxford He is also a Nicholas Kurti Senior Fellow at Brasenose College, 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.

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Russell Foster
CBE FRS FMedSci
Russell Foster in 2014
Born
Russell Grant Foster

(1959-08-19) 19 August 19591
Aldershot, Hampshire, England
EducationHeron Wood School
Farnborough Sixth Form College
Alma materUniversity of Bristol (BSc, PhD, DSc)
AwardsThe Daylight Award (2020)
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience
Institutions
ThesisAn investigation of the extraretinal photoreceptors mediating photoperiodic induction in the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) (1983)
Academic advisors
Brian Follett
Websitewww.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/team/russell-foster Edit this at Wikidata

Russell Grant Foster CBE FRS FMedSci (born 1959)123 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) at the University of Oxford45 He is also a Nicholas Kurti Senior Fellow at Brasenose College, Oxford6.7 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.78

Since 2018 he has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Royal Society journal Interface Focus.

Education

Foster was born in Aldershot. He was educated at Heron Wood School and Farnborough Sixth Form College.1 In 1980, he was awarded a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Zoology followed by PhD in 1983, both from the University of Bristol.1 His thesis on extraretinal photoreceptor cells was supervised by Brian Follett.91011

Career and research

From 1988 to 1995 Foster was a member of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Biological Rhythms at the University of Virginia, where he worked closely with Michael Menaker.5 In 1995, he returned to UK and started his own lab at Imperial College London, 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.12

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.13

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.14 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.15 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.1617

Foster 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 Thing1819 and Seasons of Life: The Biological Rhythms That Enable Living Things to Thrive and Survive.20 He has also co-written a book titled Sleep: a Very Short Introduction.21 He wrote Life Time : The New Science of the Body Clock, and How It Can Revolutionize Your Sleep and Health.22

Awards and honours

Foster was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 20084 and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2013.23

Foster was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to science.2425


Foster has received international recognition for his contributions to the discovery of photosensitive ganglion cells include:

  • Honma Prize (Japan, 1997)26
  • David G. Cogan Award (USA, 2001)27
  • Zoological Society of London Scientific Medal (UK, 2000)28
  • Edridge Green Medal (Royal College of Ophthalmologists, UK, 2005)28
  • Peter C. Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine (2015)29
  • Nikken International Science Award for his expertise in the neuroscience of sleep.(2015)30
  • The Daylight Award 2020, for Daylight Research
References

References

  1. Anon (2025). "Foster, Prof. Russell Grant". Who's Who (177th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 2720. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U246997. ISBN 9781399411837. OCLC 1427336388. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. Footprint, Professor. "Dellam Corporate Information Limited, England".
  3. Killian Fox (25 June 2022). "Sleep scientist Russell Foster: 'I want to take the anxiety around sleep away'". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  4. Anon (2008). "Russell Foster". royalsociety.org. London: Royal Society. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  5. "Russell Foster – Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences". University of Oxford. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  6. "Professor Russell Foster, Brasenose College". bnc.ox.ac.uk.
  7. "Russell Foster, BSc, PhD, FRS". Oxford Neuroscience. The Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford. 2008. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  8. Russell Foster at TED
  9. Foster, Russell Grant (1978). An investigation of the extraretinal photoreceptors mediating photoperiodic induction in the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) (PhD thesis). University of Bristol. OCLC 1053647518.
  10. Foster RG; Follett BK; Lythgoe JN (1 January 1985). "Rhodopsin-like sensitivity of extra-retinal photoreceptors mediating the photoperiodic response in quail". Nature. 313 (5997): 50–52. doi:10.1038/313050A0. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 3965970. Wikidata Q48536926.
  11. H Konishi; R G Foster; B K Follett (1 August 1987). "Evidence for a daily rhythmicity in the acute release of luteinizing hormone in response to electrical stimulation in the Japanese quail". Journal of Comparative Physiology. 161 (2): 315–319. doi:10.1007/BF00615251. ISSN 0302-9824. PMID 3625579. Wikidata Q56806586.
  12. "Professor Russell Foster | University of Oxford". University of Oxford. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  13. Ralph MR; Foster RG; Davis FC; Menaker M (23 February 1990). "Transplanted suprachiasmatic nucleus determines circadian period". Science. 247 (4945): 975–8. Bibcode:1990Sci...247..975R. doi:10.1126/SCIENCE.2305266. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 2305266. Wikidata Q29616365.
  14. R G Foster; I Provencio; D Hudson; S Fiske; W De Grip; M Menaker (July 1991). "Circadian photoreception in the retinally degenerate mouse (rd/rd)". Journal of Comparative Physiology. 169 (1): 39–50. doi:10.1007/BF00198171. ISSN 0302-9824. PMID 1941717. Wikidata Q28243801.
  15. Robert J Lucas; M S Freedman; M Muñoz; José M García-Fernández; R G Foster (1 April 1999). "Regulation of the mammalian pineal by non-rod, non-cone, ocular photoreceptors". Science. 284 (5413): 505–507. doi:10.1126/SCIENCE.284.5413.505. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 10205062. Wikidata Q33858825.
  16. Norman F Ruby; Thomas J Brennan; Xinmin Xie; Vinh Cao; Paul Franken; H Craig Heller; Bruce F O'Hara (1 December 2002). "Role of melanopsin in circadian responses to light". Science. 298 (5601): 2211–2213. doi:10.1126/SCIENCE.1076701. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 12481140. Wikidata Q34164611.
  17. S Hattar; H W Liao; M Takao; D M Berson; K W Yau (8 February 2002). "Melanopsin-containing retinal ganglion cells: architecture, projections, and intrinsic photosensitivity". Science. 295 (5557): 1065–70. doi:10.1126/SCIENCE.1069609. ISSN 0036-8075. PMC 2885915. PMID 11834834. Wikidata Q24634010.
  18. Leon Kreitzman; Russell G. Foster (2004). Rhythms of life: the biological clocks that control the daily lives of every living thing. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10969-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. Harman, Oren (24 December 2008). "Time After Time" (Book Review). The New Republic. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  20. Leon Kreitzman; Russell G. Foster (2009). Seasons of Life: The Biological Rhythms That Enable Living Things to Thrive and Survive. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11556-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. Stephen W. Lockley, Russell G. Foster (2012). Sleep: a Very Short Introduction. Oxford: OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19958-785-8.
  22. Foster, Russell (1 May 2023). Life Time : The New Science of the Body Clock, and How It Can Revolutionize Your Sleep and Health. Penguin Books, Limited. ISBN 978-0-241-52931-7.
  23. Anon (2013). "Professor Russell Foster CBE FRS FMedSci". acmedsci.ac.uk. London: Academy of Medical Sciences. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  24. "No. 61092". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2014. p. N9.
  25. "2015 New Year Honours List" (PDF).
  26. "一般財団法人アショフ・ホンマ記念財団". Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  27. Besharse, Joseph (2002). "Introduction of Russell G. Foster, the 2001 Recipient of the David G. Cogan Award". Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 43 (5): 1285. PMID 11980835.
  28. "Professor Russell Foster". Brasenose College, University of Oxford.
  29. "2015 Prize Recipient: Russell Grant Foster, CBE, FSB, FMedSci, FRS". sleep.hms.harvard.edu. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  30. "Russell Foster receives Nikken International Science Award". www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2024.