Greek biologist (1940–2017)
Fotis Constantine Kafatos (Greek :Φώτης Κ. Καφάτος ; 16 April 1940 – 18 November 2017) was a Greek biologist.[ 6] [ 7] [ 8] [ 9] [ 10] [ 11] European Research Council (ERC) .[ 12] [ 13] [ 14] [ 15]
Fotis Kafatos graduated from the Lyceum Korais in Heraklion in 1958 and fromCornell University in 1961, where he was mentored byThomas Eisner [ 16] Fulbright Program [citation needed and a scholarship fromAnne Gruner Schlumberger . He earned hisPhD at Harvard in 1965 for research onentomology , supervised byCarroll Williams .[ 2]
Research and career [ edit ] Fotis Kafatos was an influential Greekbiologist , having had a pivotal role in triggering the interest of the Greek government for Science, with the establishment of the Faculty of Biology in theUniversity of Athens , the Faculty of Biology in theUniversity of Crete and the IMBB inHeraklion .[ 5]
At the beginning of his career, he contributed to the development of thecomplementary DNA (cDNA)cloning technology and worked on the mechanisms of cellular differentiation leading to the formation of the eggs in insects.[ 17] [ 18] malaria research and used his knowledge of the genetics and molecular biology of insects to understand how the insect vector copes with thePlasmodium parasite. He also participated in the sequencing of the genome of the mosquitoAnopheles gambiae 2002 .[ 19] [ 20]
He was Assistant Professor and later Professor and Chairman of the department of Cellular and Developmental Biology of Harvard University, Professor of Biology at theUniversity of Athens and at theUniversity of Crete , director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB)[ 21] [ 5] Foundation for Research & Technology – Hellas inHeraklion and third Director-General of theEuropean Molecular Biology Laboratory from 1993 to 2005.[ 22] [ 23] [ 24] Imperial College inLondon .[ 25] European Research Council .[ 26]
Kafatos was a member of the USNational Academy of Sciences since 1982 and of theAmerican Academy .[citation needed He was elected aForeign Member of the Royal Society [ 27] Académie des Sciences , thePontifical Academy and theEuropean Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).[ 1] Robert Koch Medal in Gold in 2010, the BioMalPar.EviPalaR Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011, and the Leibnitz Medal in 2011.[citation needed He was also a recipient of theOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany [citation needed and of theGreek Order of the Phoenix ,[citation needed as well as other awards and honorary degrees in Greece and elsewhere.[citation needed
Fotis Kafatos was the son of Constantine and Helen Kafatos, had two brothers named Antonis and Menas, and lived until age 18 with his family in Heraklion, Crete, Greece. He married Sarah Niles in 1967 and they had two daughters, Helen and Zoe Myrto, and four grandchildren, George, Sophia, Arthur, and Anna.[ 28]
^a b Anon (2017)."Fotis C. Kafatos" .people.embo.org .European Molecular Biology Organization . ^a b Kafatos, Fotis (1965).The escape of moths from the cocoon: biochemical, physiological, morphological, and developmental studies harvard.edu (PhD thesis). Harvard University.OCLC 16689507 . ^ Wright, Janet (2006)."Fotis Kafatos, chairman, scientific council of the European Research Council" (PDF) .Nature .440 (7085). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 842.doi :10.1038/nj7085-842a ISSN 0028-0836 . Retrieved26 March 2025 . ^a b "Έφυγε από τη ζωή ο κορυφαίος Κρητικός βιολόγος Φ. Καφάτος - Νέα Κρήτη" .www.neakriti.gr . 18 November 2017.^a b c Anon (2017)."Obituary Fotis Kafatos: 16th April 1940 – 18th November 2017" (PDF) .imbb.forth.gr . Archived fromthe original (PDF) on 22 November 2017. ^ Kafatos, Fotis (2008). "Straight talk with...Fotis Kafatos".Nature Medicine 14 (9):902– 903.doi :10.1038/nm0908-902 .PMID 18776875 .S2CID 21218047 . ^ Efstratiadis, A.; Kafatos, F. C.; Maxam, A. M.; Maniatis, T. (1976). "Enzymatic in vitro synthesis of globin genes".Cell .7 (2):279– 288.doi :10.1016/0092-8674(76)90027-1 .PMID 60178 .S2CID 41899832 . ^ Jones, C. W.; Rosenthal, N.; Rodakis, G. C.; Kafatos, F. C. (1979)."Evolution of two major chorion multigene families as inferred from cloned cDNA and protein sequences" .Cell .18 (4):1317– 1332.doi :10.1016/0092-8674(79)90242-3 PMID 519771 . ^ Dimopoulos, G.; Müller, H. M.; Kafatos, F. C. (1999). "How does Anopheles gambiae kill malaria parasites?".Parassitologia .41 (1– 3):169– 175.PMID 10697851 . ^ Kafatos, Fotis (2005)."Chairman explains Europe's research council" .Nature .438 (7069): 723.Bibcode :2005Natur.438..723. .doi :10.1038/438723a PMID 16340980 . ^ Lescai, Francesco (2008). "Interview with Professor Fotis C. Kafatos, President of the European Research Council".New Biotechnology .25 (1):35– 36.doi :10.1016/j.nbt.2008.04.006 .PMID 18504013 . ^ Antonoyiannakis, M.; Hemmelskamp, J.; Kafatos, F. C. (2009)."The European Research Council Takes Flight" .Cell .136 (5):805– 809.doi :10.1016/j.cell.2009.02.031 PMID 19269357 .S2CID 18725330 . ^ Gilbert, Natasha (2010)."The labours of Fotis Kafatos" .Nature .464 (7285): 20.doi :10.1038/464020a PMID 20203577 . ^ Biography at European Research Council Archived 9 January 2007 at theWayback Machine ^ Anon (2017)."In Memoriam Fotis Kafatos" . ^ Wright, Janet (2006)."Fotis Kafatos, chairman, scientific council of the European Research Council" (PDF) .Nature .440 (7085). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 842.doi :10.1038/nj7085-842a ISSN 0028-0836 . Retrieved26 March 2025 . ^ PubMed references (free full text references )^ Video and audio interview with Kafatos at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health^ Holt, A.; Subramanian, M.; Halpern, A.; Sutton, G.; Charlab, R.; Nusskern, R.; Wincker, P.; Clark, G.; Ribeiro, M.; Wides, R.; Salzberg, S. L.; Loftus, B.; Yandell, M.; Majoros, W. H.; Rusch, D. B.; Lai, Z.; Kraft, C. L.; Abril, J. F.; Anthouard, V.; Arensburger, P.; Atkinson, P. W.; Baden, H.; De Berardinis, V.; Baldwin, D.; Benes, V.; Biedler, J.; Blass, C.; Bolanos, R.; Boscus, D.; et al. (2002). "The genome sequence of the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae".Science .298 (5591):129– 149.Bibcode :2002Sci...298..129H .CiteSeerX 10.1.1.149.9058 doi :10.1126/science.1076181 .ISSN 0036-8075 .PMID 12364791 .S2CID 4512225 . ^ Zheng, L.; Saunders, R. D.; Fortini, D.; Della Torre, A.; Coluzzi, M.; Glover, D. M.; Kafatos, F. C. (1991)."Low-resolution genome map of the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae" .Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America .88 (24):11187– 11191.Bibcode :1991PNAS...8811187Z .doi :10.1073/pnas.88.24.11187 PMC 53099 PMID 1763031 . ^ "Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology" .imbb.forth.gr .^ Hoffmann, J. A.; Kafatos, F. C.; Janeway, C. A.; Ezekowitz, R. A. (1999). "Phylogenetic Perspectives in Innate Immunity".Science .284 (5418):1313– 1318.Bibcode :1999Sci...284.1313H .doi :10.1126/science.284.5418.1313 .PMID 10334979 . ^ Abbott, Alison (1993)."Kafatos to be EMBL director; promises greater opportunity" .Nature .362 (6417): 198.Bibcode :1993Natur.362Q.198A .doi :10.1038/362198a0 PMID 8459842 . ^ EMBL."EMBL History - EMBL" .www.embl.de . ^ Fotis Kafatos publications indexed by theScopus bibliographic database.(subscription required) ^ Butcher, J. (2008)."Fotis Kafatos: President of the European Research Council" .The Lancet 371 (9610): 379.doi :10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60189-0 PMID 18242403 .S2CID 205949728 . ^ Louis, Christos; Goldsmith, Marian R. (2020)."Fotis C. Kafatos. 16 April 1940—18 November 2017" .Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society .69 :273– 289.doi :10.1098/rsbm.2020.0010 S2CID 218685745 . ^ Σουφλέρη, Ιωάννα Α.; Ιωακείμ, Στράτος; Αρχοντάκης, Σοφοκλής; Πρατικάκης, Βαγγέλης; Τσώλη, Θεοδώρα Ν.; Τσιλιόπουλος, Ευθύμιος; Αλεβίζου, Έφη; Ρούσσος, Βιδιάνος; Δαργάκης, Νεκτάριος (18 November 2020)."Φώτης Καφάτος: Μια ζωή πρότυπο" .in.gr (in Greek). Retrieved26 March 2025 .
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