Russell G. Foster

Who is Russell G. Foster?

Russell Grant Foster, FRS FMedSci is a British professor of circadian neuroscience, currently based at Brasenose College at the University of Oxford. He and his group are credited with the discovery of the non-rod, non-cone, photosensitive ganglion cells in the mammalian retina which provide input to the circadian rhythm system. Foster was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2008 and a member of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council council in 2011.

Educated at the University of Bristol with a PhD in Neuroscience from 1984 for thesis titled An investigation of the extraretinal photoreceptors mediating photoperiodic induction in the Japanese quail, Foster was a member of the National Science Foundation Center for Biological Rhythms at the University of Virginia before returning to the UK. Internationally, he has received several awards for his discovery of ocular photoreceptors. He is the co-author with writer and broadcaster Leon Kreitzman of two popular science books on circadian rhythms, Rhythms of Life. The Biological Clocks that Control the Daily Lives of Every Living Thing and Seasons of Life. The Biological Rhythms That Enable Living Things to Thrive and Survive.