Nektarios Tavernarakis, Research Director at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) of the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), and Professor at the Medical School of the University of Crete, was elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. This significant distinction comes as recognition of the scientific quality and the highly competitive research conducted at FORTH and the University of Crete. According to the Statutes of the prestigious German National Academy of Sciences, Membership is bestowed to scientists who have distinguished themselves by academic achievements of excellence and by their overall scientific standing. Members are evaluated and elected by the Presidium and the Senate of the Academy.

The German National Academy of Sciences aims to promote scientific and social development for the benefit of society. Its members are leading scientists, who are internationally recognized for their scientific work and distinguished for their high-quality, innovative research. The Academy has around 1,600 Members, 179 of whom have been awarded the Nobel Prize. Nektarios Tavernarakis is the second Greek scientist to be elected a member of the German Academy and the first in the field of Biomedical Sciences. The official welcome ceremony for Prof. Tavernarakis will be held in Halle, Germany, on July 8, 2020.

Short Biography

Nektarios Tavernarakis is the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), Research Director at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), and Professor of Molecular Systems Biology at the Medical School of the University of Crete, in Heraklion, Greece. He is the Director of the Graduate Program on BioInformatics at the Medical School of the University of Crete, and is also heading the Neurogenetics and Ageing laboratory of IMBB. He has also served as the Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of necrotic cell death and neurodegeneration, the interplay between cellular metabolism and ageing, the mechanisms of sensory transduction and integration by the nervous system, and the development of novel genetic tools for biomedical research. For his scientific accomplishments, he has received several notable scientific prizes and distinctions. He is an elected corresponding member of the Academy of Athens, and an elected member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, and Academia Europaea. He is one of the first in Europe, and the first in Greece, to have been awarded twice the highly competitive and prestigious ERC Advanced Investigator Grant. He has also been awarded an innovation-supporting ERC Proof of Concept Grant.  He is the recipient of the EMBO Young Investigator award, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel research award, the Bodossaki Foundation Scientific Prize for Medicine and Biology, the Empeirikeion Foundation Academic Excellence Prize, the Research Excellence award of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, the BioMedical Research Award of the Academy of Athens, the Galien Scientific Research Award, the Helmholtz International Fellow Award, the International Human Frontier in Science Program Organization (HFSPO) long-term Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Honorary Education Business Award, and the Post-Graduate Academic Achievement Award of the Hellenic University Club of New York.

For additional information:

Web page of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina: https://www.leopoldina.org/