Simon Fisher
{{Short description|British geneticist and neuroscientist (born 1970)}}
{{other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Simon Fisher
| birth_name = Simon E. Fisher
| image = Simon Fisher (British Geneticist).jpg
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|08|19|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| caption = Fisher in 2010
| alma_mater = {{Plainlist |
- University of Cambridge (BA)
- University of Oxford (DPhil) }}
| awards = Crick Lecture (2008)
| fields = {{Plainlist|
| thesis_title = Positional cloning of the gene responsible for dent's disease
| thesis_url = http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:22f6e7a5-4f00-41c9-a1d3-1b05899f22c0
| thesis_year = 1995
| doctoral_advisor = Ian W. Craig
| academic_advisors = Anthony Monaco
| doctoral_students = Sonja Vernes{{cite thesis|degree=DPhil|publisher=University of Oxford|url=https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph016955756|doi=|title=Investigation of the role of FOXP transcription factors in neurodevelopment|first= Sonja|last=Vernes|date=2007|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.497468}}|website=ox.ac.uk|oclc=317354555}}
| website = {{URL|http://www.mpi.nl/people/fisher-simon}}
}}
Simon E. Fisher (born 1970) is a British geneticist and neuroscientist who has pioneered research into the genetic basis of human speech and language.{{Google scholar id}}{{EuropePMC|ORCID=0000-0002-3132-1996}}{{cite web|last=Zimmer |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Zimmer|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2011/oct/08-the-brain-language-fossils-buried-in-your-cells |title=The Language Fossils Buried in Every Cell of Your Body | Human Evolution |website=discovermagazine.com |date=2011-10-17 |access-date=2012-10-23}} He is a director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and Professor of language and genetics at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.{{cite web|url=http://www.mpg.de/1040302/psycholinguistik_wissM4 |title=Dr. Simon E. Fisher|publisher=Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics|location=Nijmegen, Netherlands|website=mpg.de |access-date=2012-10-23|archive-date=2016-01-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103062732/http://www.mpg.de/1040302/psycholinguistik_wissM4}}{{cite web|url=http://www.mpi.nl/people/fisher-simon-e/cv |title=Brief Biography — Simon E. Fisher — Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics |publisher=Mpi.nl |date=2012-09-28 |access-date=2012-10-23}}
Education
Fisher was an undergraduate student at Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he read Natural Sciences. He was a postgraduate student at St. Catherine's College, Oxford{{cite thesis|degree=DPhil|publisher=University of Oxford|title=Positional cloning of the gene responsible for Dent's disease|first= Simon E.|last=Fisher|date=1995|url=http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:22f6e7a5-4f00-41c9-a1d3-1b05899f22c0|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.307141}}|oclc=557355457|website=ox.ac.uk}} {{open access}} where he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Oxford in 1995 for research on positional cloning of the gene responsible for Dent's disease supervised by {{ill|Ian W. Craig|qid= Q30506522}}.
Career and research
Following his DPhil, he was a postdoctoral researcher in Anthony Monaco's laboratory at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford.
Fisher is the co-discoverer of FOXP2, the first gene to be implicated in a human speech and language disorder.{{cite journal |vauthors=Fisher SE, Vargha-Khadem F, Watkins KE, Monaco AP, Pembrey ME | title = Localisation of a gene implicated in a severe speech and language disorder | journal = Nature Genetics | volume = 18 | pages = 168–70 | year = 1998 | pmid = 9462748 | doi = 10.1038/ng0298-168 | issue = 2 | hdl = 11858/00-001M-0000-0012-CBD9-5 | s2cid = 3190318 | hdl-access = free }}{{cite journal |vauthors=((Lai CSL)), Fisher SE, Hurst JA, Vargha-Khadem F, Monaco AP | title = A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder | journal = Nature | volume = 413 | pages = 519–23 | year = 2001 | pmid = 11586359 | doi = 10.1038/35097076 | issue = 6855 | bibcode = 2001Natur.413..519L | s2cid = 4421562 | hdl = 11858/00-001M-0000-0012-CB9C-F | hdl-access = free }}{{cite journal |vauthors=MacDermot KD, Bonora E, Sykes N, Coupe AM, Lai CS, Vernes SC, Vargha-Khadem F, McKenzie F, Smith RL, Monaco AP, Fisher SE | title = Identification of FOXP2 truncation as a novel cause of developmental speech and language deficits | journal = Am. J. Hum. Genet. | volume = 76 | issue = 6 | pages = 1074–80 | year = 2005 | pmid = 15877281 | pmc = 1196445 | doi = 10.1086/430841 }} His subsequent research has used FOXP2 and other language-related genes{{cite journal |vauthors=Vernes SC, Newbury DF, Abrahams BS, Winchester L, Nicod J, Groszer M, Alarcón M, Oliver PL, Davies KE, Geschwind DH, Monaco AP, Fisher SE | title = A functional genetic link between distinct developmental language disorders | journal = N. Engl. J. Med. | volume = 359 | issue = 22 | pages = 2337–45 | year = 2008 | pmid = 18987363 | pmc = 2756409 | doi = 10.1056/NEJMoa0802828 }} as molecular windows into neural pathways critical for language.{{cite journal |vauthors=Fisher SE, Scharff C | title = FOXP2 as a molecular window into speech and language | journal = Trends Genet. | volume = 25 | issue = 4 | pages = 166–77 | year = 2009 | pmid = 19304338 | doi = 10.1016/j.tig.2009.03.002 | hdl = 11858/00-001M-0000-0012-CA31-7 | hdl-access = free }}
=Awards and honours=
Awards and prizes in recognition of his work include the Francis Crick Lecture in 2008{{cite web|url=http://royalsociety.org/News.aspx?id=1202 |title=rewards excellence in science - News. |publisher=Royal Society |date=2008-07-10 |access-date=2012-10-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020130241/https://royalsociety.org/News.aspx?id=1202 |archive-date=2012-10-20 }} and the inaugural Eric Kandel Young Neuroscientists Prize in 2009.{{cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2009/091007_2.html |title=Simon Fisher wins young neuroscientist prize |publisher=University of Oxford |website=ox.ac.uk |access-date=2012-10-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020130205/https://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2009/091007_2.html |archive-date=2012-10-20 }}{{cite journal|last1=Fisher|first1=S. E.|author-link1=Simon Fisher|last2=Ridley|first2=M.|author-link2=Matt Ridley|title=Culture, Genes, and the Human Revolution|journal=Science|volume=340|issue=6135|year=2013|pages=929–930|pmid=23704558|doi=10.1126/science.1236171|bibcode=2013Sci...340..929F|s2cid=39849683}}
References
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Category:British neuroscientists
Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge