Professor Ben Simons

Ben Simons

University position

Professor

Professor Ben Simons is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students.

Departments

Department of Physics

Home page

http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bds10/ (personal home page)

Research Themes

Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Developmental Neuroscience

The Cambridge Neuroscience Community

Interests

I am interesting in applying methods of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and population dynamics to lineage tracing studies to investigate mechanisms of stem cell fate in development and maintenance. As well as neurogenesis in adult mammalian tissues, I have collaborations on the maintenance of epidermis, intestinal epithelium and germ line. I am also working on development of retina and spinal cord.

Research Focus

Keywords

cell kinetics

stem cells

neurogenesis

Clinical conditions

Cancers

Equipment

Biophysical modelling

Computational modelling

Collaborators

Cambridge

William Harris

Phil Jones

Alfonso Martinez-Arias

Doug Winton

International

Allison Bardin

Cedric Blanpain

James Briscoe

Hans Clevers

Michael Shen

Hongjun Song

Shosei Yoshida

Key publications

Simons BD, Clevers H (2011), “Strategies for homeostatic stem cell self-renewal in adult tissues.” Cell 145(6):851-62 Details

Lopez-Garcia C, Klein AM, Simons BD, Winton DJ (2010), “Intestinal stem cell replacement follows a pattern of neutral drift.” Science 330(6005):822-5 Details

Snippert HJ, van der Flier LG, Sato T, van Es JH, van den Born M, Kroon-Veenboer C, Barker N, Klein AM, van Rheenen J, Simons BD, Clevers H (2010), “Intestinal crypt homeostasis results from neutral competition between symmetrically dividing Lgr5 stem cells.” Cell 143(1):134-44 Details

Clayton E, Doupe DP, Klein AM, Winton DJ, Simons BD, Jones PH (2007), “A single type of progenitor cell maintains normal epidermis” Nature 446(7132):185-9 Details

Publications

2011

Gomes FL, Zhang G, Carbonell F, Correa JA, Harris WA, Simons BD, Cayouette M (2011), “Reconstruction of rat retinal progenitor cell lineages in vitro reveals a surprising degree of stochasticity in cell fate decisions.” Development 138(2):227-35 Details

Klein AM, Nikolaidou-Neokosmidou V, Doupé DP, Jones PH, Simons BD (2011), “Patterning as a signature of human epidermal stem cell regulation.” J R Soc Interface Details

2010

Doupé DP, Klein AM, Simons BD, Jones PH (2010), “The ordered architecture of murine ear epidermis is maintained by progenitor cells with random fate.” Dev Cell 18(2):317-23 Details

Klein AM, Brash DE, Jones PH, Simons BD (2010), “Stochastic fate of p53-mutant epidermal progenitor cells is tilted toward proliferation by UV B during preneoplasia.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107(1):270-5 Details

Klein AM, Nakagawa T, Ichikawa R, Yoshida S, Simons BD (2010), “Mouse germ line stem cells undergo rapid and stochastic turnover.” Cell Stem Cell 7(2):214-24 Details

2008

Jones P, Simons BD (2008), “Epidermal homeostasis: do committed progenitors work while stem cells sleep?” Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 9(1):82-8 Details

Klein AM, Doupé DP, Jones PH, Simons BD (2008), “Mechanism of murine epidermal maintenance: cell division and the voter model.” Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys 77(3 Pt 1):031907 Details

2007

Jones PH, Simons BD, Watt FM (2007), “Sic transit gloria: farewell to the epidermal transit amplifying cell?” Cell Stem Cell 1(4):371-81 Details

Klein AM, Doupé DP, Jones PH, Simons BD (2007), “Kinetics of cell division in epidermal maintenance.” Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys 76(2 Pt 1):021910 Details