PHOTO USMF "Nicolae Testemițanu" awarded professor Randy Wayne Schekman honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa

Chisinau, 19 Sep. /MOLDPRES/- The State University of Medicine and Pharmacy (USMF) "Nicolae Testemițanu" conferred the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa on Professor Randy Wayne Schekman today. The scientist works in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California in Berkeley, USA, is a Nobel Prize Laureate for Medicine (2013), world-renowned investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Attending the event were "Nicolae Testemițanu" USMF senate members, heads of university subdivisions, professors, students, resident doctors, doctoral students and representatives of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova.

USMF "Nicolae Testemițanu" rector, professor Emil Ceban said that the honorary title is awarded for prodigious scientific activity, fundamental discoveries in the molecular biology. "Professor Randy Wayne Schekman has been passionate about biology since childhood. During his career he promoted science and achieved remarkable results. Our academic community highly appreciates the professor's merits in his prodigious work and fundamental discoveries. We are proud that the researcher has Bessarabian roots and has decided to visit the Republic of Moldova", said Emil Ceban.

In his speech, Professor Randy Wayne Schekman thanked the university institution for the honorary degree. "I am honored by this gesture. Science is currently an important link of the modern world, therefore the work of researchers is extremely important. I am happy to be in the Republic of Moldova, to interact with the academic community here to establish absolutely necessary connections for the development of science at the international level", said Randy Wayne Schekman.

The researcher was born on December 30, 1948. He is known in the world scientific arena for meritorious results in promoting science and significant contributions in the fundamental research in cytology.

Starting from 2019, the professor has set cooperation relations with researchers from our country, which have boosted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Schekman has carried out studies on the pandemic, the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the effectiveness of vaccines.

In 2013, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for the discovery of the mechanism that regulates traffic through cell membranes, a process in which cells organize their activity and communicate with the environment. In the same year, the Republic of Moldova was mentioned on the Nobel Prize portal by Professor Randy Schekman, who in his biography referred to his Bessarabian genealogical roots. The mother's parents come from Lipcani city, Briceni district, where the researcher's grandparents are buried, which prompts him to declare it is his holy duty to visit our country.

His visit's agenda includes the presentation of a scientific report "Genes, cells and discoveries in basic science and diseases" within the International Scientific Conference in the nanotechnologies and biomedical engineering, due in Chisinau on September 20-23, as well as public lecture "Path to the Nobel Prize" for high school students, students and young researchers.

During his stay in the Republic of Moldova, Schekman will visit Lipcani city, Briceni district, as being "the first return to the homeland of a family member in the last 100 years".