In 1976, he received his MA (history of science, under the aegis of Donna Haraway) and his PhD (biology, in the laboratory of Barbara Migeon) from the Johns Hopkins University.
[3][4][5][6] Gilbert's early biological research includes documenting the first pyrimidine-initiated RNA transcripts,[7] elucidating the mechanisms by which antibodies inactivate poliovirus,[8] and studying the roles of paracrine factors in kidney and lung branching.
With collaborator Judith Cebra-Thomas, Gilbert elucidated the roles of several paracrine factors involved in carapace formation and made the unexpected conclusion that the plastron was derived from trunk neural crest cells.
[22][23][24] His work in the interactions of biology and religion have included extensive analysis of wonder,[25] as well as studies of when different groups of biologists claim that individual human life begins.
[26] He has identified (with Ziony Zevit) the bone from which Eve was generated,[27] analyzed embryonic imagery in the art of Gustav Klimt, Diego Rivera, and Frida Kahlo,[28] and has provided one of the first analyses of nerd humor.