DOUGLAS A. MELTON, PH.D. - Biologist
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Dr. Melton is an embryologist, a biologist who works on how a fertilized egg develops into an adult. His particular area of expertise is the study of genes and cells that make pancreatic tissue and the goal of the work in his laboratory is to make pancreatic cells for transplantation into people with diabetes. This challenging project involves understanding how human embryonic stem cells can be directed to make pancreatic beta cells, the cells that make insulin.

Born in Chicago, Dr. Melton earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Illinois and then went to Cambridge University in England as a Marshall Scholar. He earned a B.A. in history and philosophy of science at Cambridge and remained there to earn a Ph.D. in molecular biology at Trinity College and the MRS Laboratory of Molecular Biology.

Dr. Melton is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor in the Natural Sciences at Harvard University. He is also a co-director of Harvard’s Center for Genomic Research and the Harvard Stem Cell Initiative. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the author of over 100 publications.