Sidonia Făgărășan is a Romanian biological scientist who is a professor at the

Riken is a national scientific research institute in Japan. Founded in 1917, it now has about 3,000 scientists on seven campuses across Japan, including the main site at Wakō, Saitama, Wakō, Saitama Prefecture, on the outskirts of Tokyo. Riken is a ...

Institute in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Her research considers the molecular mechanisms that underpin processes in gut microbioata and the mucosal barrier. In 2020, she was awarded the Kobayashi Foundation Award.

Early life and career

Făgărășan completed training in clinical medicine at

Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy (, or UMF Cluj) in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, is the oldest medical education institution in Transylvania, a continuation of the Faculty of Medicine which was founded in 1919, as a part of the Supe ...

. She was a medical resident in

Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

, where she completed various training positions and was eventually made assistant professor. During her early career she became interested in the molecular mechanisms that underpin immune homeostasis. In 1998 she moved to Japan as a Visiting Researcher at

Kyoto University , or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan. The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...

, and remained there to complete a doctorate.

Research

Făgărășan contributed to the discovery of Activated Induced Deaminase, and went on to short the role of AID in gut homeostasis. In 2002, Făgărășan was appointed leader of the

Laboratory for Mucosal Immunity at the Research Centre for Allergy and Immunology. Făgărășan looks to understand the mechanisms between the microbiota and the immune system at the

mucosal A mucous membrane or mucosa is a membrane that lines various cavities in the body of an organism and covers the surface of internal organs. It consists of one or more layers of epithelial cells overlying a layer of loose connective tissue. It is ...

barrier. She looks to understand how the gut immune system contributes to the diversity, balance and metabolic functions of microbes. She showed that T-cells, the immune systems that protect the body from infections, change the body's metabolism.

Awards and honours

* 2005

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT, is one of the eleven ministries of Japan that compose part of the executive branch of the government of Japan. History The Meiji period, Meiji government created the first Ministry of Education in 1871. In January 2001 ...

Young Scientist Award * 2013 MEXT NISTEP Award * 2020 Kobayashi Award

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fagarasan, Sidonia Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century biologists 21st-century Romanian scientists 21st-century women scientists Romanian women scientists Romanian expatriates in Japan Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy alumni Kyoto University alumni Riken personnel