Arturo Falaschi


Arturo Falaschi was an Italian geneticist.

Biography

He graduated in Medicine in 1957 from University of Milan and undertook two post doctoral studies. Firstly, with J. Adler and Har Gobind Khorana in Wisconsin, USA, and later with Arthur Kornberg at Stanford. His main field of research was the replication of DNA. He was Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Pavia ; Director of the Instituto di Genetica Biochimica ed Evoluzionistica, CNR, Pavia ; and Director of the Progetto Finalizzato "Ingegneria Genetica" of the Italian National Research Council. He taught Molecular Biology at the University of Pavia and remained Director of Graduate School of Genetics, University of Pavia. He was coordinator of the Graduate School of Molecular Genetics, International School of Advanced Studies, Trieste and Professor of Molecular Biology, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy from 2004 to his last breath. He researched mainly in the field of DNA replication and in the last decades of his life he searched in particular the origin of replication of human DNA, discovering the first documented origin.
As science administrator, he was responsible for the establishment of several research institutes and was a strong believer in the internationalization of science and an advocate of North-South collaboration. He was very articulate and convinced several governments in the developed and the developing world to establish a 2-component International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, with one component in New Delhi, India and one in Trieste, Italy; both devoted to research and training of young researchers from the developing world. He became the first head of the Trieste Component of ICGEB and then Director General of both components. In the pursuit of his desire to promote biotechnology and its applications in Asia, he became the Executive Director of the Asia Pacific Molecular Biology Network and then Senior Counselor. He had profound influence on the work plan of A-IMBN and played a key role in the success of this organization.

Honors

*
*
*