Roman Zubarev

Early life and education

• M.S. in applied physics at Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, 1986
• Ph.D. in ion physics at Uppsala University, 1997

  Research interests

• Electron-capture dissociation. In 1997, while in Fred McLafferty's lab at Cornell University, Zubarev discovered the phenomenon of electron-capture dissociation ¹ of polypeptides. He later developed ECD and other ion-electron reactions² as analytical techniques in Odense and Uppsala.
• Isotopic Resonance Hypothesis. Discovered the phenomenon of isotopic resonance in Uppsala,² formulated the isotopic resonance hypothesis and experimentally verified it in Stockholm ³.
• Isoaspartate theory of Alzheimer’s disease. The role of isoaspartate in Alzheimer’s disease has first been suggested as early as in 1991.⁴ Over the next three decades the evidence gradually accumulated, being strongly supported by blood proteomics data.⁵
• Origin of life studies. Zubarev showed that the organic matter produced abiotically in a Miller-Urey experiment can be assimilated by bacteria, and thus proved that early Earth has been a hospitable place for life.⁶ For the first time in history of science, Zubarev obtained a living cell from dead matter.⁷ In that landmark experiment, bacteria were separated into lipids, nucleic acids and proteins, and these ingredients were isolated and incubated separately and in a mixture. After incubation, the isolates were seeded on Petri dish. While isolated molecules showed no growth, lipid-containing mixtures gave bacterial colonies, proving that life can self-assemble from a mixture of right ingredients.

  Awards

• Curt Brunnée Award, 2006
• Biemann Medal, 2007⁸
• Gold medal, Russian Mass Spectrometry Society, 2013