[9] He was awarded a Marshall Scholarship for study at the University of Cambridge where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in the history and philosophy of science in 1977 and a PhD under the supervision of John Gurdon.

[1][10] Melton's early work was in general developmental biology, identifying genes important for cell fate determination and body pattern.

This led to the finding that the nervous system in vertebrates is formed as a default when early embryonic cells do not receive inductive signals to become mesoderm or endoderm.

[12] This RNA transcription system is now widely used to make large amounts of messenger RNAs in vitro and is, for example, the basis for production of the COVID mRNA vaccines.

His current research interests include pancreatic developmental biology and the directed differentiation of human embryonic stem cells, particularly in pertinence to type 1 diabetes.