History

The Institute of Biochemistry was founded in 1952 by Eugen Macovschi, the head of the Chemical Biology Unit of the Faculty of Biology , University of Bucharest. The Institute has edited two biochemical journals since 1958: Revue Roumaine de Biochime (in English and French) and Studii si cercetari de biochimie (in Romanian). In 1972 the Institute of Biochemistry was dissolved into the Institute of Biology with two surviving laboratories: Enzymology, led by Dr. Horst Scheel and Iimmunology, led by Dr. Cecilia Motas.

In 1990, the Institute revived as an independent unit under the auspices of the Romanian Academy that recreated this Centre of Research and Advanced Education in Protein Biosynthesis and Function.

In 1998 the board of the Institute decided to undertake an international evaluation program under the auspices of the NATO Scientific Division and the Romanian Academy, with a recall in 2000. This endeavor has led to a significant increase in the quality of research setting new international standards to the Romanian bio-medical research.

In 2008 the Institute was awarded The Distinction for Excellence in Research by the Ministry of Research in recognition of the scientific results obtained in biochemistry and molecular biology.

The Institute carries the research program: Molecular mechanisms of recognition, signalling and control in systems biology.

The biochemical advanced education programs – such as the PhD training program, the post- doctoral international and national courses etc., focus also on protein biosynthesis and trafficking. The attractivity of these programs is reflected by the high number of undergraduate, MSc and PhD students interested to learn from our experience. Due to this influx of young people, the average age of the research staff in the Institute is only 37. Despite this, the results obtained are significant making this institution internationally- recognized. The Institute has permanent links with the University of Oxford, with which it runs a collaborative PhD training program, and has also collaborations with many other research groups in Europe and the US such as the Max Plank Institute from Dortmund, the Universities of Gőteborg, Wageningen, Glasgow and Durham, the Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy, the Center of Infection and Immunity of Lille, or NIH Bethesda.

The Institute of Biochemistry has nucleated The Romanian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, affiliated to the Federation of the European Biochemical Societies, currently gathering 400 members from the most important Romanian universities and research institutions.