Professor Kevin Brindle, Senior Group Leader at the Cancer Research UK Cancer Institute and Department of Biochemistry, and co-lead of our Advanced Cancer Imaging Programme, has joined 50 exceptional scientists from around the world elected as Fellows of the Royal Society.
Fellows have been selected for their outstanding contributions to scientific understanding, with discoveries ranging from the first planets outside our solar system, to the creation of the world’s smallest molecular engine, new mathematical proofs and treatments for debilitating global disease.
Kevin Brindle is a Professor of Biomedical Magnetic Resonance at the University of Cambridge.
He is known for developing magnetic resonance techniques for investigating the biochemistry of cells and tissues.
His current research focuses on the development of novel imaging methods to detect cancer progression and to monitor early tumour responses to treatment, with an emphasis on translating these techniques to the clinic. Recently his research showed that hyperpolarised carbon-13 imaging can be used to monitor breast cancer.
On being elected he said: "This is an honour not just for me but for all the people that have worked in my lab over the past 34 years. I also have to thank my teachers, mentors, colleagues and collaborators and also CRUK for funding my research.
"Like many in my generation I was the first in my family to go to university and so for me personally election to the Royal Society was something that I could never have anticipated when I started out. I am truly thrilled by my election."
This year’s selected Fellows embody the global nature of science, with representation from Sweden, Israel, Germany, Australia, Canada, UK-born scientists working in Europe and beyond, and researchers from around the world enriching Britain’s own research and innovation sector. Their ranks include six Nobel laureates, as well as internationally recognised leaders in industry and science policy.
Venki Ramakrishnan, President of the Royal Society, said: "At this time of global crisis, the importance of scientific thinking, and the medicines, technologies and insights it delivers, has never been clearer. Our Fellows and Foreign Members are central to the mission of the Royal Society, to use science for the benefit of humanity.
“While election to the Fellowship is a recognition of exceptional individual contributions to the sciences, it is also a network of expertise that can be drawn on to address issues of societal, and global significance. This year’s Fellows and Foreign Members have helped shape the 21st century through their work at the cutting-edge of fields from human genomics, to climate science and machine learning.
“It gives me great pleasure to celebrate these achievements, and those yet to come, and welcome them into the ranks of the Royal Society.”
Past Fellows and Foreign Members of the Royal Society have included Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Dorothy Hodgkin and Stephen Hawking.
