Fotis C. Kafatos Head of European Research Council Prof

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M.I.T. Hellenic Students’ Association presents A talk by Fotis C. Kafatos Head of European Research Council Prof. Imperial College, London, UK The European Research Council (ERC): Excellence at the heart of European Science Policy Wednesday March 14th, 2.30 – 4.00 PM, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room 32-141 For more information, contact [email protected] Fotis C. KAFATOS, Professor Fotis Kafatos currently holds the Chair of Immunogenomics at Imperial College London. In the 1960s Kafatos was one of the scientists who introduced molecular biology to the study of development. He also helped develop fundamental techniques such as cDNA synthesis, cloning and sequencing (for beta globin) and the dot-blot. He pioneered the analysis of gene families in development and evolution (chorion gene families). He helped launch the Drosophila and Anopheles genome projects, and has made important contributions to comparative and functional genomics. His current scientific work is on malaria research with emphasis on mosquito genomics and immunity of Anopheles to the parasite. His research contributions and leadership have been recognized by numerous distinctions, such as membership in several academies, including the National Academy of Sciences USA, the Royal Society of London and the French Academy of Sciences. He was full Professor at Harvard University, as well as at the Universities of Athens and Crete. He founded the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the Foundation of Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH) and directed it from 1983 to 1993. From 1993-2005, he was Director-General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). In December 2005, Fotis Kafatos was elected Chairman of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC). 5 recent representative publications: Osta, M.A., Christophides, G.K. and Kafatos, F.C (2004) Effects of Mosquito Genes on Plasmodium Development, Science, 303, 2030- 2032 Blandin, S., Shiao, S.-H., Moita, L.F., Waters, A.P., Kafatos, F.C and Levashina, E.A.(2004) Complement-like protein TEP1 is a determinant of vectorial capacity in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae, Cell, 116, 661-670 Lycett, G. J., Kafatos, F. C. and Loukeris, T. G. (2004) Conditional expression in the malaria mosquito Anopheles stephensi with Tet-on and Tet-off systems, Genetics 167, 1781-1790 Vlachou D., Schlegelmilch T., Christophides G.K., and Kafatos F.C. (2005) Functional Genomic Analysis of Midgut Epithelial Responses in Anopheles during Plasmodium Invasion, Current Biology, 15, 1185-1195 Volz J, Osta M A, Kafatos F C, Müller H-M (2005) The Roles of Two Clip Domain Serine Proteases in Innate Immune Responses of the Malaria Vector Anopheles gambiae, JBC, 280 (48), 40161 – 40168 .

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