Academician Zoran L. Kovačević passed away

It is with great regret that the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts announces the passing of Academician Zoran L. Kovačević, who passed away at the age of 90 on 22 June 2025 in Sremska Kamenica. Born in Popinci on 23 September 1935, he was one of the most notable Serbian experts in the field of biochemistry.

He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade in 1962. Following the completion of his undergraduate studies, he was appointed assistant teacher at the Institute of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad. In 1971, he defended his doctoral thesis titled Oxidative Metabolism of Glutamine of Normal and Malignant Cells. At this institution, he held all university positions – from 1982 he served as Head of the Department for Biochemistry, and in 1985 he was appointed full professor. He also headed the Institute for Biochemistry of the Clinical Centre in Novi Sad.

In the course of 1969, he undertook specialised training at the Department for Biochemistry at the University of Bristol, where he also stayed on several occasions studying cellular energetics and metabolism. He continued his professional development at the City of Hope Scientific Centre in Los Angeles as a National Health Institute scholarship recipient. Having received a scholarship from the European Organisation for Molecular Biology, he visited the Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry at the University of Munich (1980) and the Institute of Chemistry of the University of Marburg (1983).

In 1987, he initiated a cooperation with the Laboratory for Experimental Oncology at the University of Indianapolis. He was a visiting professor at the Department of Biochemistry of the Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada.

He was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Vojvodina in 1984 and became its full member in 1990. In 1991, he became a full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He served as the president of the SASA Branch in Novi Sad between 2002 and 2015.

He was a long-standing president of the Biochemical Society of Vojvodina and a member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the Serbian Medical Society and the Biochemical Society of Great Britain. Additionally, he was a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in Salzburg, a foreign member of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts and a fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Professor Kovačević was one of the founding fathers of biochemistry education at the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad, where he taught students of medicine and biology.

In 1971, he established the Laboratory for the Study of Energy, Metabolism and Transport in Isolated Mitochondria of Normal and Malignant Cells, the first and only of its kind in former Yugoslavia.

Academician Kovačević was one of the leading experts in the field of experimental biochemistry. His extensive bibliography includes over 180 scientific and professional papers, many of which were published in the most prestigious international scientific journals, including ’Biochemical Journal’, ’Cancer Research’, ’European Journal of Biochemistry’, etc. He authored practical courses and textbooks in biochemistry and molecular biology for medical students, as well as numerous monographs, including: ’Molecular Organisation and Function of Mitochondria,’ ’Evolutionary and Functional Aspects of Malignant Cell Asterisation’, ’Entropy and Bioenergy, Malignant Neoplasms – Genetic or Epigenetic Phenomenon,’ and ’Integrative Pathogenesis of Chronic Diseases of Ageing.’ He was an invited speaker at numerous international scientific congresses and symposia.

His long-term studies of the biochemistry and molecular biology of malignant tumours resulted in the definition of the concept that the essence of malignancy lies in the reprogramming of gene expression in terms of activating the neoplastic program of the cell, i.e. in epigenetic changes, a notion that has been increasingly confirmed by modern research.

For his scientific and educational work, he received various awards, including the  Science Award of the Serbian Medical Society in 1993, the Golden Plaque with  Medal of the University of Novi Sad for life achievement, Award of the Vojvodina Secretariat for Science for the most quoted scientist in 2010.

His passing represents a great loss for the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, as well as for the entire Serbian science.