Eric H. Davidson

Eric H. Davidson
Born (1937-04-13)April 13, 1937
New York City, New York
Died September 1, 2015(2015-09-01) (aged 78)
Pasadena, California
Nationality American
Fields Developmental biology
Institutions California Institute of Technology
Alma mater University of Pennsylvania (BA, 1958) and Rockefeller University (Ph.D., 1963)
Doctoral advisor Alfred Mirsky
Known for Gene regulatory networks, Sea Urchin Developmental biology
Notable awards Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Awardee, A.O. Kowalevsky Medal (2002), International Prize for Biology (2011)
Notes

Eric Harris Davidson (April 13, 1937 – September 1, 2015) was an American developmental biologist at the California Institute of Technology.[1][2] Davidson was best known for his pioneering work on the role of gene regulation in evolution, on embryonic specification and for spearheading the effort to sequence the genome of the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus.[3][4] He devoted a large part of his professional career to developing an understanding of embryogenesis at the genetic level. He wrote many academic works describing his work, including a textbook on early animal development.[5]

Early career

Davidson began conducting research as a teenager at The Marine Biological Laboratory.[6] After graduating from high school, he matriculated to the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with a B.A. in biology in 1958.[7] Davidson's Ph.D. work entailed studying RNA synthesis and gene expression in early development of the anuran Xenopus laevis in the lab of Alfred Mirsky at Rockefeller University.[8]

From Rockefeller to Caltech

After obtaining his Ph.D., Davidson stayed on at Rockefeller first as a research associate and then as an assistant professor. In 1971, he moved to the California Institute of Technology as an associate professor. There, Davidson took an interest in development of marine invertebrates, especially of the purple sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, and in investigating the function of genomic repetitive DNA elements, both interests of which would lead to a long line of investigation that eventually led to his contemporary interest in gene regulatory networks.[9]

Career in biology

Davidson has spent the majority of his scientific career investigating the molecular and mechanistic basis of animal development, i.e. how animals are built by reading the instructions encoded in the egg and, ultimately, in the genome. While at Rockefeller and very early in his career, he and Roy Britten, then at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, speculated on how the products of transcription, e.g. various RNAs or other downstream products, would need to in principle interact in order for cellular differentiation and gene regulation to occur in multicellular organisms.[10] This research program eventually led him to investigations regarding the role of gene regulation in cell lineage and embryonic territory specification, both endeavors of which contributed substantially to many biological disciplines, including developmental biology, systems biology and evolutionary developmental biology. In 2011, he was awarded the International Prize for Biology in recognition for his pioneering work on developmental gene regulatory networks.

Shortly before his death from a heart attack in 2015,[11] Davidson co-authored a landmark review book [12] providing a grand synthesis of the theory and experimental evidence relating to the design and function of genomic regulatory networks within the animal taxonomic clade of Bilateria.

Selected bibliography

Notes

  1. ↑ Hinman, Veronica (2016). "Eric Davidson (1937-2015) and the past, present and future of EvoDevo". Evolution & Development. 18 (2): 67–68. doi:10.1111/ede.12180.
  2. ↑ "Eric Harris Davidson In Memoriam".
  3. ↑ Sea urchin genome sequencing consortium (2006). "The genome of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus". Science. 314 (5801): 941–952. doi:10.1126/science.1133609. PMC 3159423Freely accessible. PMID 17095691.
  4. ↑ Hood, L. (2008). "Gene regulatory networks and embryonic specification". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105 (16): 5955–62. doi:10.1073/pnas.0801434105. PMC 2329716Freely accessible. PMID 18417452.
  5. ↑ Davidson, E.H. (1987). Gene Activity in Early Development. Academic Press.
  6. ↑ Evolution - The Molecular Landscape Interview with Eric Davidson. 2011-03-28.
  7. ↑ "Eric H. Davidson".
  8. ↑ Davidson, E.H.; Allfrey, V.G. & Mirsky, A.E. (1964), "On the RNA synthesized during the lampbrush phase of amphibian oogenesis", PNAS, 52: 501–508, doi:10.1073/pnas.52.2.501
  9. ↑ Genomic Regulatory Systems: Development and Evolution. Academic Press. 2001.
  10. ↑ Britten R.; E.H. Davidson (1969). "Gene regulation for higher cells: a theory". Science. 165 (3891): 349–57. doi:10.1126/science.165.3891.349. PMID 5789433.
  11. ↑ Healey, Melissa (16 September 2015). "Eric Harris Davidson dies at 78; pioneering developmental biologist". Los Angeles Times.
  12. ↑ Genomic Control Process: Development and Evolution. Academic Press. 2015. ISBN 978-0-12-404729-7.

External links

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