Ernesto Carafoli was born in 1932, in Italy. He gained his M.D. in 1957 at the University of Modena, Italy; “Abilitation” (Libera Docenza) in General Pathology (1965) and in Biochemistry (1968); Fogarty International Post-doctoral Fellow in the Dept. of Physiological Chemistry of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA (1963-1965); Visiting Lecturer in the same department 1968-1969; Assistant Professor of General Pathology in the University of Modena School of Medicine, Italy (1959-1965); Associate Professor of General Pathology at the same school (1965-1972); Professor of General Pathology, University of Padova School of Medicine (Italy) (1973); Professor of Biochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) (Zurich, Switzerland), (1973 to 1998); Chairman of the Dept. of Biochemistry of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in 1978 and 1987-1991; Professor of Biochemistry, University of Padova, School of Medicine, Italy (since 1990). From 1971-1991 Visiting Professor for various periods in several Italian Universities, at the University of Nairobi (Kenya), at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma of Mexico, Mexico City (Mexico), at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas (Venezuela), and at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland (OH, USA). He was Scientific Director of the Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine (Padova, Italy), (2000-2005). He has received numerous awards and honours including Professor Honoris Causa, Institute of Biological Investigations Clemente Estable. Montevideo, Uruguay, 2005; “Grande Ufficiale” of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy, 2006; and Marceli Nencki Prize (Polish Academy of Sciences), 2010.


Dr. Carafoli has been a member of a dozen professional Societies, including the Swiss Biochemical Society, the Biochemical Society, the American Society for Cell Biology, the American Society of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Biology (Honorary Member), the Society of General Physiology, the Biophysical Society, the Italian Society of Biochemistry. He has been co-organizer of about 40 International Congresses and Symposia, and of about 25 Advanced Courses, (held in a dozen countries on behalf of FEBS, ICRO/UNESCO, the Gulbenkian Foundation and WHO). He has delivered lectures at about 300 International Congresses, Symposia, Colloquia. Communications (or posters) at about 200 International Congresses, Symposia, Colloquia and participated in some 500 seminars at universities and other research institutions. He has written over 500 articles in refereed journals on topics of muscle biochemistry, membrane biochemistry, mitochondrial bioenergetics, membrane transport of ions (calcium specially by pumps) regulation of calcium metabolism and over 100 book chapters and 70 invited review articles on the related   topics.