| Citation | Professor Gail Martin, Professor Emerita, Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco
Gail Martin is world-leader in understanding the function of Fibroblast Growth Factors (FGFs) in vertebrate embryos. She was among the first to realize that growth factors are key molecules in mediating cell-cell interactions during development. FGF signalling is crucial for establishment of the body plan and development of virtually every organ. She not only defined specific functions for FGFs but also established fundamental principles including how negative feedback mechanisms fine-tune signalling. She isolated pluripotent stem cells from early mouse embryos, working independently from another group who achieved this at the same time, and she coined the term "embryonic stem" cells.
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