[6][7] Her work with Andrew Hattersley has helped enable children born with diabetes to switch from insulin injections to tablet therapy.
[8][9][4][10] Ashcroft was educated at Talbot Heath School and the University of Cambridge where she was awarded a degree in Natural Sciences followed by a PhD in zoology in 1978.
[14] Ashcroft's research focuses on ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP)channels and their role in insulin secretion.
Ashcroft is working towards explaining how a rise in the blood glucose concentration stimulates the release of insulin from the pancreatic beta-cells, what goes wrong with this process in type 2 diabetes, and how drugs used to treat this condition exert their beneficial effects.
[25] Ashcroft appeared (as a diner) on MasterChef during the 2011 series,[citation needed] along with several other Fellows of the Royal Society.