York biologist receives prestigious science award

Posted on 11 August 2016

A University of York scientist has been awarded the inaugural Royal Microscopial Society (RMS) Medal for Flow Cytometry.

Dr Karen Hogg and Richard Grenfell, Chair of the RMS Flow Cytometry Committee

Dr Karen Hogg, Experimental Officer in the Department of Biology’s Imaging and Cytometry Technology Laboratory, is recognised for her outstanding achievements applying flow cytometry in Life Sciences in fields from immunology to cell biology, bacteriology to plant studies.

A flow cytometer is a highly technological instrument, similar to an automated microscope, that looks at individual cells and paints them with 16 or more colours to analyse at a speed of 100,000 cells per second.It is commonly used for medical diagnoses and fundamental bioresearch.

Dr Hogg advises manufacturers and users from all over the world and has trained over 1000 experts from over 30 different countries.

The award is part of the RMS Medal Series, launched to coincide with the RMS’ 175th anniversary. Medals are awarded once every two years.

Dr Hogg said: “Receiving the first RMS Medal for Flow Cytometry is a delight and an honour. The Bioscience Technology Facility is a fantastic place to work, and I am fortunate to work in one of the leading imaging and cytometry core labs in the world. This provides me with excellent resources to help keep the lab at the forefront of Flow Cytometry for our users, within and outside the University of York, helping to advise and develop research projects and vitally train users from here, there and everywhere!

“I am thankful to members of the laboratory who have all facilitated me to achieve the standard of work and service recognised by this award to coincide with the 175th anniversary of the RMS.”

Dr Peter O'Toole, Director at the University of York’s Bioscience Technology Facility, said: “This is an excellent achievement for Karen, and recognises her expertise in this area and international impact. It demonstrates exceptional spirit, not only for our own research groups but also for all our external academic and commercial users. Critically it is Karen’s influence when training on our internationally renowned course that impacts across the world and beyond our own laboratories[PO1] .”

Richard Grenfell, Chair of the RMS Flow Cytometry Committee, said: “I was honoured to present Karen with the RMS Medal for Flow Cytometry. Karen is clearly invaluable to the Department of Biology, acting as both a research and information resource to users, providing guidance, training and advice, as well as collaborating with academic and research staff on innovative techniques and applications. It is great that we are able to celebrate Karen’s hard work by awarding her with this esteemed Medal.”

Dr Hogg was presented with the medal at the flowcytometryUK meeting in Leeds.