Received Bachelors degrees in Biochemistry and Biophysics from theUniversity of Pennsylvania and a Ph. D. in Molecular Biology from PrincetonUniversity in 1984. Conducted postdoctoral studies at the University of Geneva,in Geneva, Switzerland where he molecularly cloned one of the first enzymesregulating cell fate determination during the development of the fruit fly, Drosophilamelanogaster. In 1987-1988, he conducted postdoctoral studies in the laboratory ofNobel Laureate Christiane Nuesslein-Volhard at the Max Planck Institute ofDevelopmental Biology in Tuebingen, Germany. Subsequently, Dr. DeLotto wasappointed an Assistant Member of the Molecular Biology department of MemorialSloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. In 1996, he was appointed Associateprofessor in the Genetics department of the Institute of Molecular Biology at theUniversity of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark. From 2002-2007, he served asthe Chairman of the Genetics Department. He currently holds two appointments, anAssociate Professorship at the University of Copenhagen in the Department ofMolecular Biology and a Research Associate Professorship at Rutger’s University inNewark, New Jersey.Dr. DeLotto’s scientific research interests center around the molecular basis ofembryonic patterning during early development and he works primarily with themodel organism Drosophila melanogaster. He proposed the existence of anextracellular protease cascade leading to the generation of an asymmetric signaldefining cell identity across the axis of the embryo. Later work by his laboratory andothers demonstrate that indeed such a cascade exists and functions through the Tollreceptor, a signaling receptor that has evolved to function in the innate immuneresponse. This signal leads to the nuclear transloaction of NF-kappaB, a transcriptionfactor with a wide variety of functions including immunity, differentiation of insulinsecreting cells of the pancreas, learning and memory and cancer.