Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer

The State University of New York at Buffalo
Professor and Dept. Chairman of
The Structural Biology Department
Research Professor of the Chemistry Department

Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Molecular and Cell Biology Dept. and
Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics Dept.


He has devoted over 25 years to the phase problem in X-ray crystallography, the crystallization of macromolecules, and the development of crystal growth techniques. He has been directly involved in projects with NASA and is co-inventor of a number of patented devices for growing crystals. In addition to his ongoing research endeavors, Dr. DeTitta is responsible for overseeing all scientific and administrative departments at the Institute.

He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He has a number of scientific interests. Among them are the macromolecular crystallization problem, which he studies in collaboration with his talented colleague Joseph Luft, and the X-ray crystallographic phase problem, which he studies with his talented colleague Nobel Laureate, Dr. Herbert Hauptman. He is the recipient of the Sidhu Award from the Pittsburgh Diffraction Society, and has been the Principal Investigator on scientific projects generously supported by the National Institutes of Health (prostaglandins, biotin vitamins), the National Science Foundation (X-ray target development), and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (macromolecular crystal growth). He was educated as a chemist at Villanova University and as a biochemist/crystallographer at the University of Pittsburgh. He holds a joint Ph. D. in biochemistry and crystallography. He has served on numerous NASA scientific advisory boards and has given invited lectures describing his work at laboratories and universities both here and in Europe.