Becky Foster completed her BSc in Zoology at the University of Wales, Swansea in 1999. In 2001, she undertook a PhD in the Microvascular Research Laboratories, Department of Physiology, University of Bristol with Prof. Dave Bates and Dr Steve Harper, studying the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A in podocyte biology, which she completed in 2004. Becky extended her interest in renal physiology as an MRC funded Post-doctoral research scientist in the Academic Renal Unit, School of Clinical Science @ North Bristol, University of Bristol with Prof Peter Mathieson and Prof Moin Saleem and later with Dr Simon Satchell. In 2010, she was awarded a BHF Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellowship to address the question "Can VEGF-C regulate VEGF-A induced changes in glomerular endothelial cell barrier properties in health and disease?" Since then she has been funded by the British Heart Foundation, Kidney Research UK, Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation and European Foundation for the study of Diabetes. In 2015, she secured a lectureship at the University of Bristol and now splits her time between research and teaching.  She is particularly interested in the contribution of the endothelial cell glycocalyx (the protective layer that lines all blood vessels) to vessel barrier function within the kidney and beyond. She aims to identify therapeutic approaches that can restore the endothelial glycocalyx which will be common across vessel beds and vascular diseases.