{{Short description|Swiss developmental biologist (1939–2014)}} {{EngvarB|date=July 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Walter Jakob Gehring |image = Walter_Jakob Gehring 2014.jpg |caption = Walter Jakob Gehring (2014) |birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|3|20|df=y}} |birth_place = Zürich, Switzerland |death_date = {{death date and age|2014|5|29|1939|3|20|df=y}} |death_place = Basel, Switzerland |field = Developmental Biologist |work_institutions = University of Zurich, Yale Medical School, Yale University, Biozentrum University of Basel |awards = Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (1987)<ref name="Prize">{{Cite web|url=https://www.jeantet.ch/en/prix-louis-jeantet/laureats/1987-en |title=Louis-Jeantet Prize, Year: 1987}}</ref> |known_for = Discovering the homeobox (DNA segment) }} '''Walter Jakob Gehring''' (20 March 1939<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7g1LAQAAIAAJ&q=Walter+Jakob+Gehring+20+March+1939 | title=Who's who in Science and Engineering| year=2008| isbn=9780837957685| last1=Who| first1=Marquis Who's| publisher=Marquis Who's Who}}</ref> – 29 May 2014<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1016/j.devcel.2014.07.011| pmid=25215373| title=Walter Jakob Gehring (1939–2014)| journal=Developmental Cell| volume=30| issue=2| pages=120–122| year=2014| last1=Affolter| first1=Markus| last2=Müller| first2=Martin| doi-access=free}}</ref>)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/walter-jakob-gehring-1939-2014 | title=Walter Jakob Gehring (1939–2014) | the Embryo Project Encyclopedia}}</ref> was a Swiss developmental biologist who was a professor at the Biozentrum Basel of the University of Basel, Switzerland. He obtained his PhD at the University of Zurich in 1965 and after two years as a research assistant of Ernst Hadorn he joined Alan Garen's group at Yale University in New Haven as a postdoctoral fellow.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Imaginal Disc Abnormalities in Lethal Mutants of Drosophila | pmc=389475 | pmid=5002822 | volume=68 | issue=10 | year=1971 | journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. | pages=2594–8 | last1 = Shearn | first1 = A | last2 = Rice | first2 = T | last3 = Garen | first3 = A | last4 = Gehring | first4 = W | doi=10.1073/pnas.68.10.2594| bibcode=1971PNAS...68.2594S | doi-access=free }}</ref>
In 1969 he was appointed associate professor at Yale Medical School<ref>{{cite web |url=http://materiais.dbio.uevora.pt/MA/Artigos/Gehring-Eye_Development_and_the_Evolution_of_Eyes_and_Photoreceptors.pdf |title=New Perspectives on Eye Development and the Evolution of Eyes and Photoreceptors |publisher=dbio.uevora.pt/ |access-date=3 June 2014}}</ref> and 1972 returned to Switzerland to become a professor of developmental biology and genetics at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel. He was Secretary General of the European Molecular Biology Organization,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.embo.org/documents/news/facts_figures/EMBO_annual_report_2001.pdf |title=EMBO & EMBC annual report 2001 |publisher=embo.org/ |access-date=3 June 2014}}</ref> President of the International Society of Developmental Biologists, and Foreign Member of the national academies of the USA, Great Britain,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Morata|first1=Ginés|last2=Affolter|first2=Markus|date=2021|title=Walter Jakob Gehring. 20 March 1939—29 May 2014|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=71|pages=197–212 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.2021.0011|s2cid=236457532|doi-access=free}}</ref> France, Germany and Sweden.
Gehring was mainly involved in studies of Drosophila genetics and development, particularly in the analysis of cell determination in the embryo and transdetermination of imaginal discs. He performed studies of the heat shock genes, various transposons, and the homeotic genes which are involved in the genetic control of development.
In 1983 Gehring and his collaborators (William McGinnis, Michael S. Levine, Ernst Hafen, Richard Garber, Atsushi Kuroiwa, Johannes Wirz), discovered the homeobox, a DNA segment characteristic for homeotic genes which is not only present in arthropods and their ancestors, but also in vertebrates including man.<ref>{{cite journal |title=A conserved DNA sequence in homoeotic genes of the Drosophila Antennapedia and bithorax complexes |volume=308 |issue=5958 |doi=10.1038/308428a0 |journal=Nature |pages=428–433|date=March 1984 |last1=Gehring |first1=W. J. |last2=Kuroiwa |first2=A. |last3=Hafen |first3=E. |last4=Levine |first4=M. S. |last5=McGinnis |first5=W. |bibcode=1984Natur.308..428M |pmid=6323992 |s2cid=4235713 }}</ref>
Gehring was also involved in the development and application of enhancer trapping methods. He and his collaborators identified PAX6 as a master control gene for eye development, which led to a new theory about the monophyletic origin of the eyes in evolution.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=10461206 |title=Pax 6: mastering eye morphogenesis and eye evolution. |date= September 1999|volume=15 |issue=9 |journal=Trends Genet. |pages=371–7 | last1 = Gehring | first1 = WJ | last2 = Ikeo | first2 = K | doi=10.1016/s0168-9525(99)01776-x}}</ref> right|thumb|200x200px|''Drosophila Melanogaster'', the object of Gehring's science (in which he studied genetics and development, particularly in the analysis of the embryo
Gehring's 1965 PhD dissertation at the University of Zürich, ''Übertragung und Änderung der Determinationsqualitäten in Antennenscheiben-Kulturen von Drosophila melanogaster'', studied transdetermination in Drosophila imaginal discs.<ref>{{cite thesis|last=Gehring|first=Walter Jakob|title=Übertragung und Änderung der Determinationsqualitäten in Antennenscheiben-Kulturen von Drosophila melanogaster|year=1965|url=https://archive.org/details/IA41507217_0010|type=Doctoral thesis|publisher=University of Zürich}}</ref>
==Awards== * 1987 Gairdner Foundation International Award * 1987 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine<ref name="Prize" /> * 1996 Awarded the Otto Warburg Medal<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.otto-warburg-medaille.org/index.php/previous-award-winners.html|title= Otto-Warburg-Medal|publisher= GBM|access-date = 12 January 2014}}</ref> * 1997 Awarded the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology.<ref>{{cite journal |title=March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology |doi=10.1203/00006450-199704001-00014 |pmid=8979285 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=25–9 |journal=Pediatric Research |year=1997 |last1=White |first1=P. C. |last2=Mune |first2=T. |last3=Rogerson |first3=F. M. |last4=Kayes |first4=K. M. |last5=Agarwal |first5=A. K. |doi-access=free }}</ref> * 2000 Received the Kyoto Prize for Basic Science.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.inamori-f.or.jp/laureates/k16_b_walter/prf_e.html |title=The 2000 Kyoto Prize |publisher=inamori-f.or.jp |access-date=3 June 2014}}</ref> * 2001 Alfred Vogt-Preis<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.alfred-vogt-stiftung.ch/preistraeger.php|title=Alfred Vogt-Stiftung zur Förderung der Augenheilkunde|website=www.alfred-vogt-stiftung.ch}}</ref> * 2002 Received the Balzan Prize for Developmental Biology.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.balzan.org/en/prizewinners/walter-gehring/ |title=2002 Balzan Prize for Developmental Biology |publisher=balzan.org |access-date=3 June 2014}}</ref> * 2003 A.O. Kovalevsky Medal
== References == {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite journal | last1 = Walter | first1 = Niklaus | year = 2002 | title = From Transdetermination to the Homeodomain at Atomic Resolution: An interview with Walter J. Gehring | journal = Int. J. Dev. Biol. | volume = 46 | issue = 1 | pages = 29–37 | pmid = 11902685 }}
{{FRS 1997}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gehring, Walter Jakob}} Category:1939 births Category:2014 deaths Category:University of Zurich alumni Category:Kyoto laureates in Basic Sciences Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Category:Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Category:Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Category:Biozentrum University of Basel Category:Embryologists Category:Academic staff of the University of Basel Category:Drosophilists