Rosa Muchnik de Lederkremer


Rosa Muchnik de Lederkremer is an Argentine chemist. A doctor in chemical sciences, emeritus professor at the University of Buenos Aires, and senior researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, she has received Konex Awards in the area of Organic Chemistry in 1983 and 2013. Her research includes major contributions in the area of glycobiology through investigating the inhibition of the key enzyme for the survival of Trypanosoma cruzi in the human body.

Biography

Rosa Muchnik was born in Buenos Aires on 12 January 1932, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, who had to flee their homeland because of pogroms and the rise of antisemitism in Europe. She is the firstborn of four siblings. When her father arrived in Argentina, he first settled in the town of Pigüé, and shortly after saving money, he settled in Buenos Aires, where he met her mother.
Rosa Muchnik was married to Gerardo Lederkremer from 1960 until his death in 2018.

Career

Muchnik earned a licentiate in chemical sciences from the UBA Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences in 1954, and a doctorate in organic chemistry there in 1956. She completed a scholarship for further training at the Ohio State University, together with Dr. M. L. Wolfrom, from 1962 to 1965, and received a grant from the to elucidate the glycoprotein structure of Trypanosoma cruzi in 1977.
She became the first female professor of the Organic Chemistry Department in 1967. She later served as its director from 1995 to 1999. She was the main impetus for the creation of CONICET's Carbohydrate Research Center, and was its first director from 1995 to 2000.

Memberships

Awards and distinctions