Fotis Kafatos

Fotis Kafatos Constantine (Greek Φώτης Καφάτος, born April 16, 1940 in Heraklion) is a Greek biologist, molecular biologist, immunologist and malaria researchers.

Kafatos studied zoology at Cornell University to a Bachelor's degree in 1961 and then biology at Harvard University, where he in 1962 made ​​his master's degree and doctorate in 1965. Then he got into Harvard from Assistant Professor (1965 ) up to the Professor (1969 ) and director ( 1978-1982 ) of the Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology ( Cellular and Developmental Biology). His professorship at Harvard he held until 1994. Besides he was from 1972 to 1982 professor of biology at the University of Athens and since 1982 professor at the University of Crete, where he was a founding director from 1982 to 1993 at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology in Heraklion. 1993 to 2005 he was Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory ( EMBO) in Heidelberg. Since 2005 he has been Professor and Head of Immunogenetics at Imperial College London. He is since 2007 Adjunct Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard ( School of Public Health ).

Kafatos was involved in the development of the art of technology and cDNA cloning and dealt with the molecular developmental biology of insects. He was there a pioneer in the study of the role of gene families ( chlorine ion genes) in developmental biology.

He sequenced and cloned in 1976 the beta -globin gene and invented the dot blot as a precursor of DNA microarrays.

In particular, it deals with the interaction of the malaria parasite Plasmodium with its host insect Anopheles mosquito and how acquired immunity against the pathogen. He was involved in the sequencing of the gene of Anopheles mosquito ( Anopheles gambiae ) in 2002 and also at the Drosophila sequencing project.

He was the first president since 2007 of the European Research Council. He is a member of the Royal Society, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences (1982 ), the Academia Europaea, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Academie des Sciences. He is five honorary doctorates (2010).

Even in his native Greece, he did much for the ( government ) to promote research in biology.

In 2010 he received the Robert Koch Medal.