One of the world's highest honours in the field of science went to Julius Lukeš from the Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences. At the beginning of May, he was elected as an international member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the United States of America. The NAS is a private, non-governmental organization that serves, among other things, as an advisory body to the US government on matters of science and technology. The prestige of this organisation is underlined by the fact that approximately 500 of its current and deceased members have won the Nobel Prize. Julius Lukeš is the only living Czech representative to the NAS from the Czech Republic.
‘It is the first award that really made me break out in sweat’, Julius Lukeš commented sincerely on his election. New members are nominated to the NAS by their colleagues for significant contributions in their research fields. This year, the NAS elected 120 new members from the United States and 24 international members from around the world, bringing the total number of active members to 2 617 and the total number of international members to 537.
Julius Lukeš is professionally involved in parasitology; he deals with the molecular and cell biology of parasitic protozoa that cause a number of serious diseases. Since 1987 he has been working at the Institute of Parasitology of the Biology Centre of the CAS and since 2003 he has also been working at the Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia. He has authored or co-authored more than 400 articles in scientific journals, which have been cited almost 18 000 times with a Hirsch index of 63. Since 2004 he has been a member of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic, in 2014 he was elected a member of the American Academy of Microbiology and a year later he became a member of the European Academy of Microbiology. In 2018 he joined the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and in 2023 he became a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). He has also received a number of awards, including the 2011 and 2023 Minister of Education Award for Excellence in Research, Experimental Development and Innovation, the G. J. Mendel Award for Merit in Biological Sciences (2023) and the Award of the Czech Academy of Sciences for Outstanding Achievement in Research, Experimental Development and Innovation (2020).
The National Academy of Sciences is committed to advancing science in the United States and contributing to the international scientific community. It is an active organization that addresses important scientific questions and issues where scientific knowledge is essential. Julius Lukeš will work in the section that deals with pathogenic organisms and evolutionary issues. He will attend the first NAS meeting on 25 April 2025, when he will also be welcomed as a new member at a formal ceremony.
Two Czech scientists have been active in the NAS in its history. The first was the neurophysiologist Jan Bureš (1926–2012), elected in 1995, and the second twenty years later was the virologist Jan Svoboda (1934–2017). Thanks to his affiliation with the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS, molecular biologist David M. Sabatini also represents the Czech Republic in the NAS, having been elected as a full member of the NAS in 2016.
Contact:
prof. RNDr. Julius Lukeš, CSc., tel. 387775416, e-mail:
Mgr. Daniela Procházková, publicity officer, Biology Centre CAS, tel. 387 775 064, 778 468 552, e-mail:
Julius Lukeš: Photo Pavlína Jáchimová CAS
