Croatian-French geneticist and molecular biologist Miroslav Radman was introduced as one of 17 newly-elected foreign associates of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) at a ceremony on Sunday.

The new members were introduced to their colleagues in the Academy and signed the Register of Membership, which is “a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive,” NAS said.

Current NAS membership totals approximately 2,300 members and 460 foreign associates, of whom approximately 190 have received Nobel prizes.

Radman’s recent studies have changed the view of cell function, ageing and survival from DNA-centric to protein-centric, which is aimed at mitigating age-related diseases. He is recognised for his ground-breaking work on DNA repair, recombination and mutation and their impact on biological evolution and human health.

Radman is known for the discovery (together with Dr. Evelyn Witkin) of the SOS response to DNA damage, particularly in relation to the genesis of mutations;) the discovery of DNA mismatch repair (together with Drs. Matthew Meselson and Robert Wagner) – the key genetic editing system assuring the fidelity of DNA replication and recombination, that generates genetic barriers between closely related species; and more recently, for establishing the role of oxidative damage to proteins in cellular resistance to radiation and desiccation, as well as in ageing and age-related diseases.

Radman graduated biology from the University of Zagreb in 1966 and received a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Brussels in 1969.

He became a research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris in 1983 and a professor of cell biology at the Medical School of the University of Paris-5 in 1998. In 2013, he moved to his native Split where he founded the private not-for-profit Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences (MedILS) in 2004 to study the biology of aging and age-related diseases.

Radman has been elected to the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the French Academy of Science, the World Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Academy of Science, the European Academy of Microbiology, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the US National Academy of Science.