University Professors become Society of Biology Fellows
10 April 2013
Two Professors of Cardiff University have been elected as Fellows of the Society of Biology. Professors Derek Jones and Tim Wess accepted this prestigious invitation for their prominent contribution to the advancement of the biological sciences.
Speaking of his new accolade, Professor Jones, MRI Director of the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) said:
"I am absolutely delighted to receive this award, not only on behalf of myself, but also on behalf of my team and colleagues based in CUBRIC. It might seem a bit strange for a physicist working in a psychology department to have been made a Fellow of a biological society. But I think this reflects the fact that with the methods my team has been developing in CUBRIC over the last several years, we are asking real biological questions in the living human brain non-invasively in a way that was not previously possible."
Professor Wess of the Cardiff School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, added:
"I am delighted to have been elected as a Fellow of the Society of Biology. Although my research has been interdisciplinary in nature, the main theme has been trying to gain an increased understanding of the structural relationship of biopolymers."
Professor Jones was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Biology in recognition of his work in the development of novel methods for studying the biology of the white matter in the living human brain. Combining an array of neuroimaging, cognitive neuroscience and computational techniques, Prof Jones's work seeks to elicit how differences in the anatomy and microstructure of the brain's white matter explain individual differences in behaviour, cognition and microstructure.
Professor Wess' work has focused around the main biopolymers of living organisms such as collagen, DNA, keratin, chitin and cellulose. The interdicsplinary nature of his work has enabled him to undertake a diverse range of projects from molecular changes in archaeological bone to the role of elastic proteins in focusing the eye.