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I am sad to share that my friend, mentor, collaborator and a giant of behavioural neuroscience, Iván Izquierdo, has passed away. RIP. Sciencing with Iván was always fun. You made us all better people and scientists @RafaelRoesler
For those that don’t know Ivan’s history it is quite remarkable. He was born in Argentina, but married a Brazilian beauty. 2/n
Iván trained with his father after Medical School in pharmacology. He also worked with Eduardo de Robertis, the scientist that is credited to be the first to see synaptic vesicles by EM
He spent some time at UCLA and he then returned to Argentina. in 1973 concerned about the dictatorship in Argentina he moved to his wife’s hometown in Brazil. He built one of the most successful Biochemistry Departments in Brazil where Richard Rodnight was also recruited
I remember he describing his move to Brazil. Colleagues had told him that was just a question of time that the military would come for him. So time to go. In Brazil he thrived to be the most cited South American scientist. His research focus was always memory
Anybody that talked to Ivan would hear about Borges and Funes el Memorioso. the man with perfect memory and how Funes could reconstruct an entire day of his life. and of course that would take a whole day! Ivan trained 100’s of successful scientists.
I was part of a research group collaborating with Ivan on the biology of prion protein when I approached him and asked for help. We were generating genetically-modified mice but had no idea what to do for behavior. He was generous and a fantastic collaborator.
In 2007 we published this initial collaboration and then several more papers and grants together. Ivan was a member of the National Academy of Science and the Brazilian Academy of Science. He received many honours. But he was mostly proud of his family and his scientific family.
His biography can be found here https://www.pnas.org/content/107/34/14947
