Gheorghe Benga Explained

Gheorghe Benga (born January 26, 1944, in Timișoara, Romania) is a Romanian physician and molecular biologist. He is professor and chairman in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology of the Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and a titular member of the Romanian Academy.

Benga did his studies in Cluj-Napoca, earning an M.D. from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in 1967, and an M.Sc. in Chemistry from Babeș-Bolyai University in 1973.[1]

In 1986, together with collaborators Octavian Popescu and Victor I. Pop, Benga showed the existence of a protein water channel in the red blood cell membrane.[2] [3] Two years later, in 1988, Peter Agre independently isolated the protein and demonstrated it was a ubiquitously expressed water transport protein, naming it aquaporin.[4] In 2003 Agre would receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work.[5] Benga and his collaborators would appeal this award before the Nobel Committee, to no avail, though he would receive recognition with a Gold Medal at the Third Science Congress held in Constanța.[6]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Personal website . November 23, 2019 . April 2, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160402044431/http://ad-astra.ro/benga/ . bot: unknown .
  2. Benga . Gheorghe . Popescu . Octavian . Pop . Victor I. . Holmes . Ross P.. p-(Chloromercuri)benzenesulfonate binding by membrane proteins and the inhibition of water transport in human erythrocytes . . 25 . 7 . 1535–8 . 1986 . 3011064 . 10.1021/bi00355a011 .
  3. Benga. Gheorghe . Popescu. Octavian . Borza . Victoria . Pop. Victor I. . Muresan. A . Mocsy. I . Brain . A . Wrigglesworth. JM . Water permeability of human erythrocytes. Identification of membrane proteins involved in water transport. . . 41 . 2 . 252–262 . 1986 . 3019699 .
  4. Kuchel PW . The story of the discovery of aquaporins: convergent evolution of ideas--but who got there first? . Cellular and Molecular Biology. (Noisy-le-Grand) . 52 . 7 . 2–5 . 2006 . 17543213 .
  5. Web site: Cum a ratat un român premiul Nobel? Povestea lui Gheorghe Benga. ro. September 19, 2013. Vlad. Andriescu. Adevărul. March 22, 2020.
  6. Web site: Știința – Benga a ratat Premiul Nobel. January 19, 2006. Elena. Stan. Jurnalul Național. March 22, 2020.

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