Lelio Orci

Lelio Orci (22 March 1937 – 22 October 2019) [1] was an Italian scientist in the field of endocrinology and diabetes and emeritus professor in the Department of Morphology at the University of Geneva Medical School.[2]

Orci was born in 1937 in San Giovanni Incarico. He received his BA in 1958. He studied medicine at the University of Rome, graduating in 1964.[3] In 1966, he moved to the University of Geneva where he worked ever since. He was chair of the Department of Morphology from 1976 until his retirement in 2000, transitioning to Professor Emeritus.[4]

Orci is known for his work on cell and tissue biology using electron microscopy. In the first part of his research career, Orci's laboratory largely studied the organization of the pancreatic islet of Langerhans, as well as the secretion pathway of insulin from the beta cell.[4] His group was the first to utilize immunogold labelling to localize intracellular proteins (published in 1980),[4][5] and among the first to use freeze-fracture with electron microscopy to study a cell's internal organization.[4] In 1984, he began collaborating with James Rothman on the work in vesicle trafficking that eventually earned Rothman, Randy Schekman, and Thomas C. Südhof the Nobel Prize.[6]

Awards

The Lelio Orci Award for advances in cell biology was established in 2015.[9]

Personal life

In a 2020 obituary, Orci was described as having a "strong, flamboyant personality" and "infectious enthusiasm" for science.[4] He traveled rarely, instead working long hours in his laboratory.[4]

Orci had a wife, Catherine, and three children.[4]

References
  1. "Morto lo scienziato ciociaro Lelio Orci, famoso per le scoperte sul diabete".
  2. "All Cells Lead to Rome » American Scientist". Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2016-12-14.
  3. "The Dale Medallist 1983" (PDF). Journal of Endocrinology. 102 (1): NP–1. July 1984. doi:10.1677/joe.0.10200NP.
  4. Montesano R, Schekman R, Rothman J, Perrelet A (January 2020). "In Memoriam: Lelio Orci, 1937-2019". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 117 (1): 15–17. doi:10.1073/pnas.1920094117. PMC 6955317.
  5. "Immunogold Labelling in Scanning Electron Microscopy". Energy Beam Sciences. Archived from the original on 6 February 2014.
  6. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-03-15. Retrieved 2016-12-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Hoffmann, Ilire Hasani, Robert. "Academy of Europe: CV". www.ae-info.org.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. "King Faisal Prize – Professor Lelio Orci". kfip.org.
  9. "The first Lelio Orci Award will be presented to Gisou van der Goot". 16 February 2016.
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