VALENTIN

Academic Appointments

• Assistant Professor (tenure-track), Scintillon Institute
• Assistant Professor Adjunct, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Scripps Research

Honors & Awards

• NIH Pathway to Independence K99/R00 Award (2017)
• Best Poster Award, NHLBI/NIDDK Mitochondrial Symposium (2016)
• Outstanding Poster Presentation Prize, The New York Academy of Sciences (2016)
• Dziewiatkowski Award for Most Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation (2012)
• Chancellor’s Doctoral Fellowship, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2005)

Professional Education

• Postdoctoral, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Molecular Biology (2018)
• Doctorate, University of Michigan (2012)
• Master’s, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2007)
• Undergraduate, Moldova State University, Republic of Moldova (2005)

Valentin received his undergraduate degree in Biology and Biochemistry from the Moldova State University in the Republic of Moldova in 2005. There he performed his diploma thesis on characterization of seed storage proteins in the Laboratory of Plant Biochemistry (the Moldova State University) under supervision of Drs. Natalya Lapteva and Pavel Grigorcea.  Subsequently he received his M.S. in Biochemistry in 2007 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and his Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Michigan in 2012. Both his M.S. and Ph.D. he received in the laboratory of Dr. Ruma Banerjee (the Banerjee lab moved from UNL to UMICH in 2007). While in graduate school Valentin studied the intracellular pathway for trafficking of cobalamin (vitamin B₁₂) and his work significantly contributed to our understanding of vitamin B₁₂-dependent mutases (isomerases) and their small G-protein chaperones which are important for the cobalamin cofactor insertion. In 2012, Valentin joined the laboratory of Dr. Vamsi Mootha at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. There, he obtained further training in mitochondrial biology by applying his experience in enzymology and biochemistry to find ways to alleviate consequences of lesions in the electron transport chain and developed tools to study redox metabolism. In the winter of 2018, Valentin joined the Scintillon Institute faculty as an Assistant Professor. He also holds an appointment of Adjunct Assistant Professor in Chemistry at Scripps Research. Since starting his independent lab Valentin received multiple NIH grants as well as funding from Impetus Grants.