Ginés Morata is an expert in developmental biology of the fruitfly Drosophila, a specialty he has worked on for over 40 years. He has been involved in several major discoveries, including the discovery of developmental compartments, the phenomenon of cell competition, the connection between genes and compartments, the elucidation of the structure of the Hox gene complex, and the discovery of mitogenic signalling by apoptotic cells.He worked for several years in the UK, doing postdoctoral research at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the Medical Research Council of Cambridge University. Presently he is Research Professor of the Spanish Research Council at the Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.

He has been awarded numerous honorary doctorates and prizes, including the Spanish National Prize for Research in Biology (2002), the Mexico Prize for Science and Technology (2004) and the Prince of Asturias Prize for Science and Technology (2007)