Congratulations to Professor Sir James Cuthbert Smith, FRS

A Knighthood for Jim Smith! Congratulations from all of the Xenopus community world-wide to a leading Xenopus researcher - our very own James Cuthbert Smith - knighted in the Queen's New Year's Honours (2017) for services to medical research and science education.

Professor Sir Jim Smith is the Director of Science at the Wellcome Trust and Senior Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute, is a scientific leader who has transformed our understanding of embryonic development, giving insights into genetic defects in children and how stem cells develop into different tissues. He played a leading role in the development of the Francis Crick Institute from its early beginnings to its establishment in 2015. Previously, as Director of the Gurdon Institute and then of the MRC National Institute for Medical Research, he provided leadership in UK science across a breadth of disciplines and helped nurture the next generation of outstanding scientists, taking particular care to promote the careers of women.