Vladimir Parpura, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Neurobiology, has been named to the Academia Europaea, a European equivalent to U.S. organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. Parpura, who earned his medical degree from the University of Zagreb in Croatia and his doctorate in neuroscience and zoology from Iowa State University, is the first UAB-based scientist to be inducted into the organization.
The Academia Europaea was founded in 1988 as an organization of eminent scholars from across the continent of Europe. Members cover the full range of academic disciplines that comprise the humanities, social, physical and life sciences as well as mathematics, engineering and medicine. There are more than 2,400 members.
Parpura also holds a faculty position at the University of Rijeka in Croatia. His research focus is on the release of the neurotransmitter glutamate from astrocytes, the most numerous cells in the brain. In recent years, his laboratory has initiated a new line of research in neuro-nanoscience using carbon nanotubes to affect neuronal and glial growth and function, which can be used to repair brain injuries and in the brain-machine interface.