Anne Elizabeth Warner. 25 August 1940—16 May 2012

Abstract

Anne Warner applied physiological techniques to developmental biology, elucidating the mechanisms of cell interaction and communication that pattern the early embryo. Through her determination and passion for science, she contributed crucial discoveries in the fields of muscle physiology, cellular differentiation and gap junction communication. She spent the majority of her career at University College London, which became her intellectual home and where she acquired a Royal Society Foulerton Research Professorship, becoming a highly respected and influential figure. In her work on gap junctions, Anne was the first to show that embryonic development and patterning required gap junctions, and that the restriction of junctional communication between cells played a key role in tissue differentiation. Anne excelled in her breadth of vision across research and its interdisciplinary possibilities. In 1998 she established the CoMPLEX Centre for systems biology at UCL, bringing her own group together with scientists from across the STEM subjects to build testable mathematical models of biological systems across multiple scales. Indefatigable in her capacity for leadership and committee work, she assumed an eclectic set of roles across a large span of research organizations and professional societies, and had a lifelong association with the Physiological Society. In 1984 she founded the Microelectrodes course at the Plymouth Marine Biology Laboratory, which has trained generations in the art of electrophysiology and still continues today. With uncompromisingly high standards, she inspired her mentees to be ambitious and fearless, and established postdoctoral fellowships to help the young scientists who followed after her.