Life Sciences (Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Neurobiology)

Walter Jakob Gehring

Switzerland / March 20, 1939
Developmental Biologist; Professor, University of Basel

"Discovery of conserved developmental mechanisms"
Through his research into the developmental process of Drosophila, Professor Gehring discovered the homeobox and its conserved developmental mechanisms, which represented a groundbreaking contribution to the basic understanding of the morphogenesis of organisms. He is a developmental biologist who has made significant contributions to recent advances in biology.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

1939	Born in Zurich, Switzerland
1963	Diploma in Zoology, University of Zurich
1963-1967	Research Associate, University of Zurich
1965	Ph. D., University of Zurich
1967-1969	Postdoctoral fellowship, Yale University, U. S. A.
1969-1972	Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anatomy and Dept. of Molecular Biophysics, Yale University
1972-present	Full Professor, Dept. of Cell Biology, University of Basel

AWARDS AND HONORS

1982	Otto Naegeli-Prize
1986	Warren Triennial Prize, Harvard Medical School
1987	Dr. Albert Wander Preis, Wander AG. Bern
1995	Runnstrom Medal, Stockholm
1997	March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology, NY
Member:	the US National Academy of Sciences, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, French "Académie des Sciences"
Foreign Member:	Royal Society

MAJOR WORKS

1967	Clonal analysis of determination dynamics in cultures of imaginal discs in Drosophila melanogaster. Develop. Biol. 16
1984	A homologous protein-coding sequence in Drosophila homeotic genes and its conservation in other metazoans. (with Garber, R. L. and others) Cell 37
1985	Homeotic genes, the homeobox, and the genetic control of development. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. Quant. Biol. 50
1987	Homeoboxes in the study of development. Science 236
1994	Homology of the eyeless gene in Drosophila to the Small eye gene in mice and Aniridia in humans. (with Walldorf, U. and others) Science 265
1995	Introduction of ectopic eyes by targeted expression of the eyeless gene in Drosophila. (with Georg, H. and others) Science 267

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