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.
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. Two years later, in 1988, Peter Agre independently isolated the protein and demonstrated it was a ubiquitously expressed water transport protein, naming it aquaporin. In 2003 Agre would receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work. 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.
References
- ^ "Personal website". Archived from the original on April 2, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - Benga, Gheorghe; Popescu, Octavian; Pop, Victor I.; Holmes, Ross P. (1986). "p-(Chloromercuri)benzenesulfonate binding by membrane proteins and the inhibition of water transport in human erythrocytes". Biochemistry. 25 (7): 1535–8. doi:10.1021/bi00355a011. PMID 3011064.
- Benga, Gheorghe; Popescu, Octavian; Borza, Victoria; Pop, Victor I.; Muresan, A; Mocsy, I; Brain, A; Wrigglesworth, JM (1986). "Water permeability of human erythrocytes. Identification of membrane proteins involved in water transport". European Journal of Cell Biology. 41 (2): 252–262. PMID 3019699.
- Kuchel PW (2006). "The story of the discovery of aquaporins: convergent evolution of ideas--but who got there first?". Cellular and Molecular Biology. 52 (7). (Noisy-le-Grand): 2–5. PMID 17543213.
- Andriescu, Vlad (September 19, 2013). "Cum a ratat un român premiul Nobel? Povestea lui Gheorghe Benga". Adevărul (in Romanian). Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- Stan, Elena (January 19, 2006). "Știința – Benga a ratat Premiul Nobel". Jurnalul Național. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
External links
- Gheorghe Benga publications indexed by Google Scholar
- 1944 births
- Living people
- Scientists from Timișoara
- Babeș-Bolyai University alumni
- Titular members of the Romanian Academy
- Romanian biologists
- 20th-century Romanian physicians
- 21st-century Romanian physicians
- Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy alumni
- Academic staff of the Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy