biology

Gillian Bates

Gillian Bates is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gillian Bates rather than just read about it. In short: Gillian Patricia Bates (born 19 May 1956) is a British biologist. She is distinguished for her research into the molecular basis of Huntington's disease and in 1998 was awarded the GlaxoSmithKline Prize as a co-discoverer of the cause of this disease.

Key takeaways

Gillian Bates belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gillian Bates to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gillian Bates from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gillian Patricia Bates (born 19 May 1956) is a British biologist. She is distinguished for her research into the molecular basis of Huntington's disease and in 1998 was awarded the GlaxoSmithKline Prize as a co-discoverer of the cause of this disease. As of 2016, she is Professor of Neurogenetics at UCL Institute of Neurology and the co-director of UCL Huntington's Disease Centre.

Education Bates was educated at Kenilworth Grammar School and the University of Sheffield where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1979. She completed her postgraduate study at Birkbeck College, London where she was awarded a Master of Science degree in 1984 followed by St Mary's Hospital Medical School where she was awarded a PhD in 1987 for genetic mapping of the cystic fibrosis gene, working in the lab of Robert Williamson.

Research Bates's research has focused on Huntington's disease. She was one of the group who first cloned the Huntington's disease gene. She also created the first mouse model of the disease, the R6/2 mouse, an important step in understanding the pathogenesis of Huntington's. Prior to joining UCL in 2016, Bates was the head of the Neurogenetics Research Group at King's College London.

Awards and honours Bates has been elected a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (1999) and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (2002). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2007 and to its Council in 2011. In 1998, she was awarded the Royal Society Glaxo Wellcome Award jointly with Stephen Davies, for the "discovery of the cause of Huntington's Disease". In August 2024, Bates was recipient of the Royal Society's prestigious Ferrier Medal, which recognised her work in understanding the molecular basis of Huntington's disease.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gillian Bates

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gillian Bates claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gillian Bates before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gillian Bates ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gillian Bates

In research: Gillian Bates appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gillian Bates in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gillian Bates is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1956 births, 20th-century British biologists, 20th-century British women biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gillian Bates outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gillian Bates in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gillian Bates means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gillian Bates out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gillian Bates in simple terms?

Why does Gillian Bates matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gillian Bates?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gillian Bates.