Eric Davidson
Norman Chandler Professor of Cell Biology
California Institute of Technology

Eric H. Davidson's research lies at the interface of developmental biology and evolutionary biology. He has played a major role in establishing that animal development depends on the sequential activation of systems of regulatory genes. His monograph, "Gene Activity in Early Development," (three Editions, 1968, 1976, 1986) is a classic that has provided direction for research in this complicated field. His research interests include molecular biology of differential gene expression in metazoan embryos and their systems of developmental gene regulation, regulatory evolution of bilaterian life forms and gene network organization.

Dr. Davidson is a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an Awardee of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He was born in New York City and received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1958. After receiving his PhD from Rockefeller (Institute) University in 1963, he went on to become a Research Associate and then Assistant Professor at Rockefeller. In 1971, he accepted a faculty position at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, leading to his current position as Norman Chandler Professor of Cell Biology in the Division of Biology. He has authored more than 350 publications, including several books. His most recent book is entitled The Regulatory Genome: Gene Regulatory Networks in Development and Evolution (Academic Press, 2006).