Amnon Albeck (; born August 1, 1958) is an organic and bioorganic chemist.

Biography

Amnon AlbeckVice Rector's Biography, Bar Ilan University (BIU)
/ref> was born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, Israel, to

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

and Shulamit Albeck on August 1, 1958. Amnon's father is the chemist Prof.

Michael Albeck Michael Albeck (Hebrew: מיכאל אלבק) (born October 1934) is an Israeli organic and bioorganic chemist of tellurium compounds. He was President of Bar-Ilan University from 1986 to 1989. Biography Michael Albeck was born in Berlin, Germ ...

, the fifth president of Bar Ilan University (1986-1989) and former president of The Israel Chemical Society (1977-1980). His grandfather,

Hanoch Albeck Hanoch Albeck (Hebrew: חנוך אלבק) (August 7, 1890 - January 9, 1972) was a professor of Talmud at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. He was a foremost scholar of the Mishna and one of the pioneers of the scientific approach to Mis ...

was a professor of

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who was one of the founders of the scientific approach to the study of the

Mishna The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...

. Albeck graduated from

Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic ...

(Ramat Gan, Israel) with a BSc in chemistry in 1982, and earned his PhD from The

Weizmann Institute of Science The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli univ ...

(Rehovot, Israel), under the supervision of Mordechai (Mudi) Sheves, in 1988. He then spent two years as a post-doctoral Fellow with

Robert H. Abeles The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, ho ...

Brandeis University Brandeis University is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational institution sponsored by the Jews, Jewish community, Brandeis was established on t ...

in Massachusetts, USA. In 1990 he returned to Bar Ilan University as a faculty member at the

Department of Chemistry An academic department is a division of a university or school faculty devoted to a particular academic discipline. This article covers United States usage at the university level. In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries, universi ...

, where Albeck is now a Professor and the head of The Julius Spokojny Bioorganic Chemistry Laboratory. He is also a member of The Marcus Center for Medicinal Chemistry at Bar Ilan University. Albeck served as The Department of Chemistry Chairman in 2008-2011, and he is Bar Ilan University's

Vice-Rector A rector (Latin for 'ruler') is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world the rector is often the most senior official in a u ...

since 2014. In July 2020 he was elected Rector of Bar-Ilan University, due to replace Prof. Miriam Faust in office. Amnon and his wife Shira, who is a staff scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, have five children and seven grandchildren.

Scientific interests and publications

Albeck's research interests include: (1)

Organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clay ...

peptide Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. ...

s and

peptidomimetic A peptidomimetic is a small protein-like chain designed to mimic a peptide. They typically arise either from modification of an existing peptide, or by designing similar systems that mimic peptides, such as peptoids and β-peptides. Irrespecti ...

s; (2) Enzyme mechanisms and inhibition, in particular the study of

protease A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalyzes (increases reaction rate or "speeds up") proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the form ...

s; (3)

Drug development Drug development is the process of bringing a new pharmaceutical drug to the market once a lead compound has been identified through the process of drug discovery. It includes preclinical research on microorganisms and animals, filing for r ...

and

drug delivery Drug delivery refers to approaches, formulations, manufacturing techniques, storage systems, and technologies involved in transporting a pharmaceutical compound to its target site to achieve a desired therapeutic effect. Principles related to dr ...

; (4) Development of computational tools for the study of

enzyme mechanisms Enzyme catalysis is the increase in the rate of a process by a biological molecule, an "enzyme". Most enzymes are proteins, and most such processes are chemical reactions. Within the enzyme, generally catalysis occurs at a localized site, called ...

and for drug development; (5) Chemistry and biological activity of

tellurium Tellurium is a chemical element with the symbol Te and atomic number 52. It is a brittle, mildly toxic, rare, silver-white metalloid. Tellurium is chemically related to selenium and sulfur, all three of which are chalcogens. It is occasionally fo ...

compounds.''Inorg. Chem.'' 1998, ''37'', ''1704-1712'', DOI: 10.1021/ic971456t; ''FASEB J.'' 2007, ''21'', ''1870-1883'', doi:10.1096/fj.06-7500com; ''ChemMedChem'' 2007, ''2'', ''1601-1606'', DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.200700155.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albeck, Amnon 1958 births Living people Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University Israeli chemists Jewish chemists Weizmann Institute of Science alumni Computational chemists