HERNAN CHAIMOVICH GURALNIK
Cientific Name: Chaimovich, H.
Email: hchaimo@usp.br; depqbq@quim.iq.usp.br
Profession: Biochemist; Educator
Area of Interest: Chemical Sciences
Hernan Chaimovich, born in Santiago de Chile in 1939, received an
undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the Universidad de Chile in
1962. After two years working with Osvaldo Cori in apyrase enzymology,
he spent two and a half years in USA working in Physical Organic
Chemistry under the supervision of C.A. Bunton (UCSB) and F.H.
Westheimer (Harvard University). Returning to Chile as an Assistant
Professor of Biochemistry he developed kinetic and mechanistic work
studying acid phosphatase and aminoacyl-tRNA synthase, the latter in
collaboration with Jorge and Catherine Allende. He moved to Brazil in
1969, as a FAPESP fellow in the Department of Physiology at the Faculty
of Medicine, Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and was later hired in the
Department of Biochemistry of the Institute of Chemistry, USP (IQUSP),
where he became a Full Professor in 1985. Professor Chaimovich developed
a research line in interfacial effects on chemical and biological
reactivity using micelles and vesicles as models. Together with his
students and collaborators he has contributed to the understanding of
kinetic and mechanistic effects of supramolecular aggregates in
Chemistry and Biology. His description of vesicle formation using
synthetic amphiphiles, and the study of their physical properties,
contributed for the increasing applications of these systems as well as
for the understanding of the relationships between monomer structure and
aggregate architecture. The pseudophase theory with explicit
consideration of ion exchange, extended in his group, has been applied
for the quantitative analysis of the effects of several supramolecular
aggregates on chemical reactions. The contributions of his group,
including theoretical and experimental studies of the effect of micelles
and vesicles on a number of chemical reactions, have contributed to
dissect the effect of these aggregates on chemical reactivity. Graduate
students from his group are presently Professors in several brazilian
Universities. During his career Professor Chaimovich has also been
actively involved in science and university policy as well as in
administration. He participated in the formulation of the Bioq-FAPESP
project in the early 70'ties and was part of the Management Group of the
project. He participated in the Graduate Committee of the IQUSP and has
been twice Chairperson of the Biochemistry Department (IQUSP). Professor
Chaimovich participated in the establishment of an interdisciplinary
graduate course in Biotechnology and an undergraduate Course in
Molecular Sciences, coordinated by him for four years. He was a Director
of the Teachers Association of the Universidade de São Paulo (ADUSP).
Active Member of the Brazilian Society of Biochemistry and Moleculas
Biology, he was elected President of the Society in 1994. In recognition
of his academic contributions he was elected Fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science and Member of the Ordem
Nacional do Mérito Científico e Tecnológico.
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