Ginés Morata facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ginés Morata
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Morata in 2017
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Ginés Morata Pérez
1945 (age 79–80) |
| Alma mater | Complutense University of Madrid (PhD) |
| Awards | Prince of Asturias Prize |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Autonomous University of Madrid University of Cambridge |
| Thesis | Herencia celular de la determinación en Drosophila (1973) |
| Doctoral advisor | Antonio Garcia-Bellido |
Ginés Morata Pérez is a Spanish biologist. He is a research Professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain. He is an expert in developmental biology, which is the study of how living things grow and develop. He has focused on the fruit fly (Drosophila) for over 40 years.
Studying to Be a Scientist
Ginés Morata went to school at the Universidad Laboral de Sevilla and the Complutense University of Madrid. In 1973, he earned his PhD degree. His research was about how traits are passed down (called heredity) in fruit flies. His teacher for this research was Antonio Garcia-Bellido.
What He Researches
Ginés Morata's work focuses on how cells compete with each other. This is important for understanding how cells die naturally (called apoptosis) and how cancer starts. His lab also studies how imaginal discs, which are special parts in insects, can regrow.
Morata has been part of many important discoveries. These include finding out about "developmental compartments" in living things. He also helped discover how cells compete and how genes are linked to these compartments. He helped explain the structure of Hox genes, which control body plans. He also found out that dying cells can send signals that make other cells grow.
He worked for several years in the United Kingdom. There, he did advanced research at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) at the University of Cambridge. He worked with another famous scientist named Peter Lawrence.
Awards and Special Recognitions
Ginés Morata has received many special awards and honorary degrees. Some of these include:
- The Spanish National Prize for Research in Biology (2002)
- The Mexico Prize for Science and Technology (2004)
- The Prince of Asturias Prize for Science and Technology (2007)
In 2017, he was chosen as a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in the UK. In 2018, he became a foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
See also
In Spanish: Ginés Morata para niños
