biology

Gillian Griffiths

Gillian Griffiths 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 Griffiths rather than just read about it. In short: Gillian Margaret Griffiths is a British cell biologist and immunologist. Griffiths was one of the first to show that immune cells have specialised mechanisms of secretion, and identified proteins and mechanisms that control cytotoxic T-lymphocyte secretion.

Key takeaways

Gillian Griffiths 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 Griffiths to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gillian Griffiths from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gillian Margaret Griffiths is a British cell biologist and immunologist. Griffiths was one of the first to show that immune cells have specialised mechanisms of secretion, and identified proteins and mechanisms that control cytotoxic T-lymphocyte secretion.

Current research

Griffiths is Professor of Cell Biology and Immunology at the University of Cambridge, running a research laboratory at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. She was Director of CIMR from 2013 until 2017. In 2024, she was appointed as the new Chair of the Department of Cell Biology at Yale School of Medicine, effective 1 April 2025.

Awards and honours Griffiths is a Fellow at King's College, Cambridge. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2005 and Fellow of the Royal Society in 2013.

2019: Awarded the Buchanan Medal of the Royal Society.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gillian Griffiths

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gillian Griffiths 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 Griffiths 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 Griffiths 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 Griffiths

In research: Gillian Griffiths 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 Griffiths 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 Griffiths is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 20th-century British biologists, 20th-century British women biologists, 21st-century British biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gillian Griffiths 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.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Gillian Griffiths in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gillian Griffiths 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 Griffiths out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gillian Griffiths in simple terms?

Why does Gillian Griffiths 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 Griffiths?

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 Griffiths.