Nektarios Tavernarakis, Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH) and Professor at the Medical School of the University of Crete, was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). 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 Constitution of the prestigious AAAS, Fellowship is bestowed to scientists who have scientifically or socially distinguished themselves by efforts on behalf of the advancement of science, or its applications. Nominations for AAAS Fellows are evaluated for election by the Council of the Association. Nektarios Tavernarakis was honored for his distinguished contributions to the fields of ageing, neuroscience, mitochondrial biology, cell death and neurodegeneration.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science aims to advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of society. Its Fellows are leading scientists, engineers and innovators who have been recognized for their seminal contributions across disciplines, from pioneering research and technology, teaching and mentoring, to administration in academia, industry and government, as well as, excellence in science dissemination. AAAS publishes six respected peer-reviewed journals, including Science, a premier global science weekly journal, which publishes the very best in research across all sciences, with articles that consistently rank among the most cited in the world.

Nektarios Tavernarakis is the first scientist from Greece to be elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the field of Biological Sciences. The official welcome ceremony for Prof. Tavernarakis will be held in February 2021. For more information, please see:

The relevant AAAS press release:

https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-announces-leading-scientists-elected-2020-fellows

The announcement in Science:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6520/1048

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 is an elected corresponding member of the Academy of Athens, an elected member and Vice President of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC), and an elected member of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Governing Board and Executive Committee, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), theEuropean Academy of Sciences and Arts, and Academia Europaea. He has also served as the Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. He earned his Ph.D. degree at the University of Crete, and trained as a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA. 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. He has received several notable scientific prizes, including two ERC Advanced Investigator Grants, and an innovation-supporting ERC Proof of Concept Grant. He is also 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 BioMedical Research Award of the Academy of Athens, the Galien Scientific Research Award, and the Helmholtz International Fellow Award, among others.