Ginés Morata Pérez
Basic Research 1996Doctor of Science, ‘Severo Ochoa’ Centre for Molecular Biology
Jury rulingThe jury for the Rei Jaume I Prize for Basic Research, meeting in Castellón, has unanimously decided to award the 1996 prize to Mr Ginés Morata Pérez.
For his work on the developmental genetics of the fruit fly, ‘Drosophila’, in which he has continued the great tradition established by Professor García Bellido, founder of the Spanish School of Genetics and Developmental Biology.
He has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of how different sets of genes cooperate and compete to establish the structure of an insect. He has also made significant contributions to demonstrating that the same principles apply to the development of tissue models and morphogenesis in vertebrates. His work has helped to establish that what has been discovered in insects also applies to higher organisms, including humans.
His work has been characterised by an in-depth exploration of complex phenomena.
He has recently discovered the process known as phenotypic suppression, in which the function of a gene is suppressed even when that gene is being expressed.
