Nobel Peace Prize laureate becomes honorary member of Moldova's Academy of Sciences

Chisinau, 18 September /MOLDPRES/ - The distinctive signs of honorary member of Moldova’s Academy of Sciences (ASM) today were handed over to a professor of the University of California, Berkeley, United States, Randy Schekman, a world famous scientist in the medicine sector, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (2013).        

Attending the event was Ambassador of the United to Moldova Kent D. Logsdon. The honorific title was awarded to the American scientist for prodigious scientific work, fundamental discoveries in the molecular biology field, which represents the foundation of all normal and pathological biological processes of the living organisms, including the humans, with beneficial results for the understanding, prophylaxis and treatment of the severest pathologies and the cultivation of the generally human values internationally.        

In his speech, ASP president, academician Ion Tighineanu said that  Randy Schekman had established cooperation relations with science people from Chisinau three years ago, in extremely complicated times, when the mankind was confused by the pandemic. At that time, the scientist opened online, on 28 April 2020, the Scientific Symposium, COVID-19 Pandemic: Medical Scientific Support or What We Need to Know About SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus and Pandemic. The event was organized by Moldova’s Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Thus, the first scientific contacts were created between the American cytologist and researchers from Moldova.          

The scientist from the USA also has a spiritual relation with Moldova. His relatives lived here, in the northern region, by almost 100 years ago. His great-grandfathers are buried in the Lipcani town, Briceni district. In 1927, his grandparents emigrated to the United States.      

Randy Wayne Schekman was born on 30 December 1948. He made performance studies, including doctoral ones and subsequently started the research work. In 1999, he was elected president of the American Society for Cell Biology. He is member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Starting from 2011, he has been editor-in-chief of the of the eLife magazine. The glory time of Randy Schekman came in 2013, when along with Thomas C. Südhof and James Rothman, he became Laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize in Medicine for the discovery of the mechanism which regulates the vesicular trafficking – an important system in the living cells. At the event, Randy Schekman presented the public lecture titled, My career path: from pond scum to Stockholm.            

The working agenda of the scientist also comprises other meetings in Chisinau with the university community; he will also participate in a scientific conference. At the same time, he will go to the Lipcani town, to honour the graves of his great-grandparents.