{"id":2147,"date":"2011-07-13T11:20:17","date_gmt":"2011-07-13T11:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.semmelweis-univ.hu\/?p=2147"},"modified":"2022-10-19T10:27:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T08:27:54","slug":"biomatrix-conference-recalls-dr-tivadar-huzellas-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/2011\/07\/biomatrix-conference-recalls-dr-tivadar-huzellas-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Biomatrix conference recalls Dr. Tivadar Huzella&#039;s legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The University\u2019s Department of Human Morphology and Developmental Biology was witness to a special summoning of the past on July 6-7, 2011, when noted students and followers of Dr. Tivadar Huzella held a large-scale scientific conference in remembrance of this former director of the Department. While earlier, it had been believed that the substance between living cells is inanimate and unstructured adhesive material, Dr. Tivadar Huzella and his student Dr. Endre Bal\u00e1zs recognised that, due to its hyaluronic acid content, this so-called biomatrix has a huge role in the aging process. <!--more-->In the vitreous body, the joint cartilage, the skin, and numerous other places, it is not the cell, but rather the substance between the cells that plays the most important role; the biochemical correction or replacement of this material may even serve as an antidote to aging.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2133\" title=\"Dr. Endre Bal\u00e1zs\" src=\"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/files\/2011\/07\/biomatrix_balazs_endre_300px.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Endre Bal\u00e1zs\" width=\"300\" height=\"223\" \/>Following World War II, Dr. Bal\u00e1zs fled from the fascist and communist dictatorships, emigrating first to Sweden and then to the United States. Here, he enjoyed a remarkable career in both science and business, the most important stages of which include: president of the Retina Foundation (Boston, U.S.), editor-in-chief of the leading ophthalmic journal <em>Experimental Eye Research<\/em>, professor at Columbia University (New York, U.S.), and founding president of Biotronics Inc.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">As professor emeritus, the doyen of intercellular research and <em>creator spiritus<\/em> of the present conference, Dr. Bal\u00e1zs has returned to our university in order to pay his respects to his former teacher. Armed with a tireless enthusiasm that belies his 91 years, Dr. Bal\u00e1zs not only organised the conference, but also added great distinction to the event with his presence. In his opening address, Dr. Bal\u00e1zs praised the merits and role of the Department\u2019s former director and outlined the past, present and future of biomatrix research.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2132\" title=\"Dr. \u00c1goston Sz\u00e9l and Dr. Istv\u00e1n Kar\u00e1di\" src=\"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/files\/2011\/07\/biomatrix_megnyito_szel1_cropped_200px.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. \u00c1goston Sz\u00e9l and Dr. Istv\u00e1n Kar\u00e1di\" width=\"200\" height=\"277\" \/>The conference was opened by Dr. Istv\u00e1n Kar\u00e1di, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, followed by Dr. \u00c1goston Sz\u00e9l, current director of the Department and vice-rector for general affairs, who welcomed the guests and outlined the arc which Dr. Huzella\u2019s teaching and research work had started and which, thanks to the work of Dr. Imre T\u00f6r\u0151, Dr. B\u00e9la Hal\u00e1sz and Dr. Imre Ol\u00e1h, is today inevitably present among leading biomedical innovations and in Semmelweis University\u2019s curriculum.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Some of the most famous biomatrix experts attended this two-day conference, including Dr. Andr\u00e1s Falus, director of the Department of Genetics, Cell- and Immunobiology and Dr. L\u00e1szl\u00f3 M\u00f3dis, professor at the University of Debrecen, in order to discuss the clinical significance of the intercellular substance described by Dr. Huzella in the 1930s. Touching reminiscences were given by Dr. S\u00e1ndor Szirmai and Dr. L\u00e1szl\u00f3 R\u00f3bert, former students of Dr. Huzella, while Dr. Istv\u00e1n Hargittai presented a fascinating science policy analysis, including the description and criticism of a problematic era in Hungarian history.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2140\" title=\"Conference attendees\" src=\"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/files\/2011\/07\/biomatrix_kozonseg_280px1.jpg\" alt=\"Conference attendees\" width=\"280\" height=\"143\" \/>Those who attended the conference enjoyed one of the summer\u2019s most decisive events, which was worthy of not only the traditions of Semmelweis University, but the &#8220;Research University&#8221; title presented to the University last year as well.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The Department\u2019s current director wishes to express his gratitude to Dr. Endre Bal\u00e1zs, Dr. G\u00e1bor Palkovics and Dr. Istv\u00e1n Hargittai, without whose intellectual and financial support this conference would not have been possible.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Dr. \u00c1goston Sz\u00e9l<br \/>\nHolder of the Huzella Award<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">(Translated by Gina G\u00f6nczi)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The University\u2019s Department of Human Morphology and Developmental Biology was witness to a special summoning of the past on July 6-7, 2011, when noted students and followers of Dr. Tivadar Huzella held a large-scale scientific conference in remembrance of this former director of the Department. While earlier, it had been believed that the substance between &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13,2],"tags":[324],"class_list":["post-2147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-science","category-news","tag-events"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6758,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147\/revisions\/6758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}