Eric H. Davidson
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Eric Harris Davidson (April 13, 1937 – September 1, 2015) was an American
developmental biologist Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and differentiation of stem c ...
at the
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
. Davidson was best known for his pioneering work on the role of gene regulation in
evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
, on embryonic specification and for spearheading the effort to sequence the genome of the
purple sea urchin ''Strongylocentrotus purpuratus'', the purple sea urchin, lives along the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean extending from Ensenada, Mexico, to British Columbia, Canada. This sea urchin species is deep purple in color, and lives in lower in ...
, ''Strongylocentrotus purpuratus''. 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.


Early career

Davidson began conducting research as a teenager at The
Marine Biological Laboratory The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent ...
. After graduating from high school, he matriculated to the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
and graduated with a B.A. in biology in 1958. Davidson's Ph.D. work entailed studying RNA synthesis and gene expression in early development of the anuran ''
Xenopus laevis The African clawed frog (''Xenopus laevis'', also known as the xenopus, African clawed toad, African claw-toed frog or the ''platanna'') is a species of African aquatic frog of the family Pipidae. Its name is derived from the three short claws ...
'' in the lab of Alfred Mirsky at Rockefeller University. Davidson returned to the
Marine Biological Laboratory The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent ...
to serve for two terms as Director or Co-Director of the Embryology Course, from 1988 through 1996.


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 The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
as an associate professor. There, Davidson took an interest in development of marine invertebrates, especially of the purple sea urchin ''
Strongylocentrotus purpuratus ''Strongylocentrotus purpuratus'', the purple sea urchin, lives along the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean extending from Ensenada, Mexico, to British Columbia, Canada. This sea urchin species is deep purple in color, and lives in lower int ...
'', 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.


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. 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 The is an annual award for "outstanding contribution to the advancement of research in fundamental biology." The Prize, although it is not always awarded to a biologist, is one of the most prestigious honours a natural scientist can receive. Ther ...
in recognition for his pioneering work on developmental gene regulatory networks. Shortly before his death from a heart attack in 2015, Davidson co-authored a landmark review book 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.


Sexual harassment allegations

In 1992, Kellie Whittaker, a doctoral student at Caltech sued the university and Prof. Eric Davidson, stating that he had repeatedly asked for sexual favours between 1989 and 1991. She had previously filed a sexual harassment charge with Caltech, which found that Davidson's behaviour was “inappropriate and unethical in the context of a student/adviser situation,” but that no sexual harassment occurred.


Interest in American Folk Music

In the 1950s and 1960s Davidson traveled throughout Grayson and
Caroll Caroll is a name, a variant of Carol, Carrol, or Carroll. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Caroll Spinney (1933–2019), American puppeteer and cartoonist Middle name *DeRosey Caroll Cabell (1861 – 1924), American genera ...
counties in Virginia recording traditional folk music. These recordings were eventually deposited in the
Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fo ...
collection.


Selected bibliography

* Isabelle S. Peter and Eric H. Davidson ''Genomic Control Process: Development and Evolution'' (2015) * * ''Gene Activity in Early Development'' (1987) * ''Genomic Regulatory Systems: Development and Evolution'' (2001) * * ''The Regulatory Genome: Gene Regulatory Networks In Development And Evolution'' (2006)


Notes


External links


Research web page

Patent: Gene regulatory networks and methods of interdiction for controlling the differentiation state of a cell

Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives
lists Davidson audio recordings consisting of 73 open reel tapes dating from 1958-1984.
Marianne Bronner, "Eric Harris Davidson", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2018)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Eric H. 1937 births 2015 deaths Developmental biologists American embryologists California Institute of Technology faculty American science writers Place of birth missing Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences