Friday, 03 May 2019

Major Accolade

Biochemist Rudolf Zechner has been elected member of the US Academy of Sciences. Photo: Uni Graz/Kernasenko

Biochemist Rudolf Zechner has been elected member of the US Academy of Sciences. Photo: Uni Graz/Kernasenko

Biochemist Rudolf Zechner, Professor at the University of Graz, has been elected to the US National Academy of Sciences

Graz-born Biochemist Rudolf Zechner has just been elected to the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Zechner’s research work is concerned with the process known as lipolysis, the breakdown of fats by enzymes. His discovery of the enzyme ATGL (adipose triglyceride lipase) in 2004 has made a significant contribution to the understanding of this process. This year the National Academy of Sciences has elected 99 new Members and 25 Foreign Associates, including Zechner. Zechner is not the only Austrian researcher amongst them – the Innsbruck quantum physicist Rainer Blatt has also been made a Foreign Associate member of the NAS. This brings the number of Austrian members of the prestigious US science institution to six.

Rudolf Zechner, who is also the head of the research network “BioTechMed-Graz”, has already won a number of significant awards. These include the Wittgenstein Award (2007), an ERC Advanced Grant (2013), the Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine (2015) and the Rolf Luft Award for research into the metabolism and diabetes (2018).

 

Further information:
„How can we come to grips with obesity?“: Rudolf Zechner's research on a sedcard

Related news

Fair distribution: Researchers determine just greenhouse gas budgets for all EU regions

Ten years ago, on 12 December 2015, the Paris Climate Agreement was signed at the UN Climate Conference. In order to limit global warming to well below two degrees, only a certain amount of CO2 may be emitted worldwide. While the focus was originally on national emission targets, more than 200 subnational regions and almost 300 cities have now adopted their own targets. But how many emissions are they fairly entitled to? Researchers at the University of Graz have now developed transparent criteria for fair distribution at the subnational level for the first time and determined corresponding greenhouse gas budgets for all European regions. The paper was published today in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Chemical Christmas show at the University of Graz: An explosive evening at the Schauspielh

At the beginning of December, the University of Graz transformed the theater into a laboratory: as part of “Chemical Life,” teacher training students staged a chemical Christmas show for Styrian school classes—complete with ethanol rockets, nitrogen snow, and glowing effects. An evening designed to inspire interest in studying chemistry.

Train by train: Koralm railway accelerates exchange between the Universities

Lectures at the University of Klagenfurt in the morning, seminars at the University of Graz in the afternoon: Austria's longest tunnel and a journey time of around 45 minutes make it easy. The Koralm railway increases the speed of networking between the two university locations. The collaboration builds on existing cooperation - for example in the areas of teacher training, Slavic studies and as employers, the universities are well coordinated.

On the trail of the Big Bang: University of Graz receives 1.5 million euros for doctoral programmes

The Austrian Science Fund FWF has selected the Doctoral Programme in Theoretical Particle Physics at the University of Graz for funding from the Doc.funds. Six young scientists will be funded for 3.5 years. They will gain fundamentally new insights into the origins of the world.