Stephen Simpson, together with David Raubenheimer, developed an integrative modelling framework for nutrition (the Geometric Framework), which was devised and tested using insects. This has since been applied to a wide range of organisms, from slime moulds to humans, and problems, from aquaculture and conservation biology to the dietary causes of human obesity and ageing. He has also revolutionised understanding of swarming in locusts, with research spanning neurochemical events within the brains of individual locusts to continental-scale mass migration.
Stephen also leads the Precision Nutrition research group. The group's emphasis is 'bottom-up', in that we are especially concerned with the way in which lower-level processes lead to higher level outcomes. The approach focuses on the behaviour of individual organisms and involves an interplay between theory and experiment. Most of our experimental work is on mice, although recent work has examined fish, birds and other mammals - including humans. Techniques employed include the quantitative analysis of behaviour, neurophysiology, metabolic and digestive physiology, mathematical modelling, computer simulations and laboratory selection experiments.
