Alexander Sergeevich Spirin (Russian: Александр Сергеевич Спирин) (born September 4, 1931) is a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n biochemist

Biochemist

Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. Typical biochemists study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. The prefix of "bio" in "biochemist" can be understood as a fusion of "biological chemist."-Role:...

, professor of Moscow State University

Moscow State University

Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...

, Director of Institute of Protein Research Russian Academy of Sciences, Puschino (Пущино-на-Оке), Moscow Region (Московская Область), Academician of Russian Academy of Sciences. His primary scientific interests reside in the field of biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...

 of nucleic acid

Nucleic acid

Nucleic acids are biological molecules essential for life, and include DNA and RNA . Together with proteins, nucleic acids make up the most important macromolecules; each is found in abundance in all living things, where they function in encoding, transmitting and expressing genetic information...

s, and protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 biosynthesis.

In 1957 together with Andrey Nikolayevich Belozersky (Андрей Николаевич Белозерский) he conducted comparative analysis of bacterial DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 and RNA

RNA

Ribonucleic acid , or RNA, is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life....

, and predicted existence of messenger RNA. He gave the first qualitative description of the structure of high-polymer RNA (1959–61). In 1963 he discovered the structural transitions of ribosome

Ribosome

A ribosome is a component of cells that assembles the twenty specific amino acid molecules to form the particular protein molecule determined by the nucleotide sequence of an RNA molecule....

s and formulated one of the principles of structure of ribosomes. He discovered an artificial ribosomal self-assembly (1963–66). Proposed a molecular mechanism of the ribosome role in protein synthesis (1968). He conducted an extra-cellular protein synthesis on modified ribosomes — non-enzymatic

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 translation

Translation (genetics)

In molecular biology and genetics, translation is the third stage of protein biosynthesis . In translation, messenger RNA produced by transcription is decoded by the ribosome to produce a specific amino acid chain, or polypeptide, that will later fold into an active protein...

 (together with L.P. Gavrilova) (1970–74).

Dr. Spirin was awarded Hans Adolf Krebs

Hans Adolf Krebs

Sir Hans Adolf Krebs was a German-born British physician and biochemist. Krebs is best known for his identification of two important metabolic cycles: the urea cycle and the citric acid cycle...

 medal in 1969, elected Honorary Fellow of University of Granada

University of Granada

The University of Granada is a public university located in Granada, Spain that enrolls approximately 80,000 students. The university also has campuses in Ceuta and Melilla. Every year, over 2,000 European students enroll in the UGR through the Erasmus Programme, making it the most popular...

in 1972.