When giving the words of praise for the presentation of the award, Luis A. Montero, dean of the Faculty of Chemistry, pointed out that the highest academic distinction is given to a great friend “who has not only contributed to scientific advances, but has also built academic bridges between both nations.”
“The professor demonstrates his commitment to the use of science for collaboration and international development, especially in research on malaria,” said the Cuban academic.
He pointed out that Agre’s relationship with Cuba exemplifies the philosophy that science knows no homeland, because it is a value of and for all humanity.
The date of this event coincides with the celebration of Cuban Chemist Day, in honor of scientist Alvaro Reinoso, who made the Caribbean nation a pioneer country in the development of this branch in Latin America.
“Particularly notable is his work related to Cuban health and biomedicine. Agre’s appreciation for the focus on these branches from our island and the performance of young people contributes to the constant advancement of science in Cuba,” said Montero.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2003, Agre shares that award, granted by the Swedish Academy of Sciences for the discovery of aquaporins, a family of water channel proteins found throughout nature and responsible for numerous physiological processes and implicated in multiple human clinical disorders.
Director of the Malaria Research Institute at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, he also oversees field research in rural areas of Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The international meeting on Chemistry, Biochemistry and Chemical Engineering, which will be held until November 8th at the Havana Convention Center, will be an opportunity to disseminate the most recent advances in these sciences, including their ramifications in Biology, Pharmaceuticals and Materials, among others.
The VI International Symposium on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the ninth Latin American Meeting on Coordination and Organometallic Chemistry will be held within this framework.
In addition, the IX Latin American Meeting on Biological Inorganic Chemistry will be held at the same time, in which the structure and function of metaloproteins and metalloenzymes, inorganic medicinal chemistry, biomimetics and bioinspired coordination compounds, as well as biocatalysis and bioinspired catalysis will be addressed.
During the days of the international meeting, the event of the Italo-Latin American Society of Ethnomedicine will also be held.
QUIMICUBA 2024 is being held after six years of not doing so, as the Covid-19 pandemic prevented the event in 2021, and will be attended by experts from Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Germany, Colombia, Mexico, the United States, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Russia, Puerto Rico and Portugal.
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