| Citation | Professor Morata is a world leader in the field of developmental genetics and has been awarded all the top scientific honours in his home country. His discoveries are in developmental and cell biology; he works with Drosophila but his findings are applicable to other animal groups, including vertebrates.His main achievements are (i) the development of the Minute technique (allowing the analysis of large clones of mutant cells in vivo), (ii) the discovery of developmental compartments and their genetic basis (iii) the first description of cell competition in developing organs (iv) the identification of three separate genes in the Hox-bithorax gene complex by genetic methods (later confirmed by molecular biology) (v) the discovery of phenotypic suppression in Drosophila (vi)the description of genetic subdivisions within the Drosophila bauplan (vii) the discovery of mitogenic signalling by apoptotic cells |