Edward Michael De Robertis

Edward M. De Robertis is the Norman Sprague Professor of Biological Chemistry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is a developmental biologist best known for work demonstrating that a common genetic tool-kit regulates antero-posterior and dorsal-ventral cell differentiation in the embryos of all bilateral animals. At the University of Basel, during one of the most exciting periods of modern biology, he collaborated with his colleague Walter Gehring to clone the first vertebrate development-controlling gene, now called HoxC6. At UCLA De Robertis’ laboratory dissected the molecular mechanisms that mediate embryonic induction of cell differentiation, a phenomenon first described by Nobel laureate Hans Spemann. A new paradigm was provided by Chordin, a protein secreted by dorsal cells that binds Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) growth factors, facilitating their transport through the space between ectoderm and mesoderm to the ventral side, where Chordin is digested by Tolloid protease liberating BMPs for signaling. Remarkably, the Chordin morphogenetic gradient determines dorsal to ventral tissue differentiations in most bilateral animals. These discoveries that Hox genes and Chordin/Tolloid were conserved between vertebrates and fruit flies marked the beginning of the new scientific discipline of evolution and development, Evo-Devo.

De Robertis was born in Boston, MA, but was raised in Uruguay since age three, where he completed M.D. studies. This was followed by a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the Leloir Institute in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is active in Latin American affairs. His postdoctoral training was in Cambridge, England, at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology under the supervision of renowned embryologist Sir John Gurdon. De Robertis was appointed full Professor at the University of Basel, Switzerland at age 33. Since 1985 he has been at UCLA. De Robertis is a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Latin American Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences. De Robertis received the Ross G. Harrison Prize in Developmental Biology, and a Honoris Causa doctorate from the Universités Sorbonne in Paris.