Shimon Schuldiner (; born August 10, 1946) is an Israeli

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

. He has made important contributions to the understanding of

proteins Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, re ...

that couple the movement of

ions An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

and other

molecules A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry ...

across

membranes A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. B ...

. Schuldiner is Mathilda Marks-Kennedy Professor at the

Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences (AS-ILS) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is the oldest life sciences research institute in Israel. It is part of the Faculty of Sciences, and is located in the Edmond J. Safra Campus (Giva ...

, the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. He received a B.Sc. in 1967 and an M.Sc. in 1968 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. from the

Weizmann Institute of Science The Weizmann Institute of Science ( ''Machon Weizmann LeMada'') is a Public university, public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded. Unlike other List of Israeli uni ...

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

in 1973.

Biography

Schuldiner was born on August 10, 1946, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, to Hana Joszpe and Berko Schuldiner, who were

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. In 1964 he

emigrated to Israel ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally described ...

, where he has been living since. He earned a B.Sc. in 1967 and a M.Sc. in 1968 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the latter working with Itzhak Ohad. In 1973 he received a Ph.D. for work performed in the laboratory of Mordhay Avron (z"l) at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot . From 1973 to 1976 he did postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Howard Ronald Kaback at the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology in

Nutley, New Jersey Nutley is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 30,143, an increase of 1,773 (+6.2%) from the 2010 United ...

. In 1976 he returned to Israel and joined the Department of Molecular Biology at

Hadassah Medical School Hadassah Medical Center () is an Israeli medical organization established in 1934 that operates two university hospitals in Jerusalem (one in Ein Karem and one in Mount Scopus) as well as schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacology a ...

, and in 1990 he moved to the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, both at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Between 1999 and 2002, he served as Chairman of the Silberman Institute. Schuldiner is married to Monica Schuldiner, with whom he has two children and six grandchildren. He and his wife are long-time supporters of civil rights in Israel and of the advancement of peace. His son Oren and his daughter-in-law Maya Schuldiner are also research biologists, working at the Weizmann Institute of Science. His son Ilan is a physiotherapist at Maccabi Health Services and his daughter in law, Hila Zadka, is a researcher at The Israel Center for Disease Control, Israel Ministry of Health.

Career

Schuldiner is a world expert in the expression, purification, and characterization of

membrane proteins Membrane proteins are common proteins that are part of, or interact with, biological membranes. Membrane proteins fall into several broad categories depending on their location. Integral membrane proteins are a permanent part of a cell membrane ...

. Specifically, he focuses on the multidrug

antiporter An antiporter (also called exchanger or counter-transporter) is an integral membrane protein that uses secondary active transport to move two or more molecules in opposite directions across a phospholipid membrane. It is a type of cotransporte ...

EmrE. Investigation of its subunit structure led the Schuldiner Group to propose a

dimer Dimer may refer to: * Dimer (chemistry), a chemical structure formed from two similar sub-units ** Protein dimer, a protein quaternary structure ** d-dimer ** TH-dimer * Dimer model, an item in statistical mechanics, based on ''domino tiling'' * ...

topologically Topology (from the Greek words , and ) is the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without ...

parallel subunits. This led to a long-running controversy over EmrE topology that eventually led Schuldiner to demonstrate that both parallel and antiparallel dimers are functional. His work on the Vesicular Monoamine Transporter ( VMAT), elucidating its mechanism of action, is essential for the development of better drugs for brain disorders.

Selected articles

#Schuldiner, S., Rottenberg, H., and Avron, M. (1972) Membrane potential as a driving force for ATP synthesis in chloroplasts. FEBS Lett. 28, 173-176 #Ramos, S., Schuldiner, S., and Kaback, H. R. (1976) The electrochemical gradient of protons and its relationship to active transport in Escherichia coli membrane vesicles. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 73, 1892-1896 #Schuldiner, S., and Kaback, H. R. (1975) Membrane Potential and Active Transport in Membrane Vesicles from Escherichia coli. Biochem 14, 5451-5461 #Taglicht, D., Padan, E., and Schuldiner, S. (1993) Proton-sodium stoichiometry of NhaA, an electrogenic antiporter from Escherichia coli. J. Biol. Chem. 268, 5382-5387 #Schuldiner, S., Shirvan, A., Stern-Bach, Y., Steiner-Mordoch, S., Yelin, R., and Laskar, O. (1994) From bacterial antibiotic resistance to neurotransmitter uptake. A common theme of cell survival. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 733, 174-184 #Yaffe, D., Radestock, S., Shuster, Y., Forrest, L. R., and Schuldiner, S. (2013) Identification of Molecular Hinge Points Mediating Alternating Access in the Vesicular Monoamine Transporter VMAT2. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110, E1332-E1341 #Stern-Bach, Y., Greenberg-Ofrath, N., Flechner, I., and Schuldiner, S. (1990) Identification and Purification of a Functional Amine Transporter from Bovine Chromaffin Granules. J. Biol. Chem. 265, 3961-3966 #Yerushalmi, H., Lebendiker, M., and Schuldiner, S. (1995) EmrE, an Escherichia coli 12-kDa multidrug transporter, exchanges toxic cations and H+ and is soluble in organic solvents. J. Biol. Chem. 270, 6856-6863 #Nasie, I., Steiner-Mordoch, S., Gold, A., and Schuldiner, S. (2010) Topologically Random Insertion of Emre Supports a Pathway for Evolution of Inverted Repeats in Ion-Coupled Transporters. J. Biol. Chem. 285, 15234-15244 #Shuster, Y., Steiner-Mordoch, S., Alon Cudkowicz, N., and Schuldiner, S. (2016) A Transporter Interactome Is Essential for the Acquisition of Antimicrobial Resistance to Antibiotics. PLoS One 11, e0152917

References

External links

* http://biolchem.huji.ac.il/shimons/personal.html * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schuldiner, Shimon 1946 births Israeli biochemists Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Argentine emigrants to Israel Argentine Jews Argentine people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Argentine scientists Israeli Jews Israeli people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Israeli scientists Living people Scientists from Buenos Aires