The Jagiellonian University is sad to announce the death of Professor Aleksander Koj, its former rector, eminent biologist and biochemist, and co-founder of the Campus of the 600th Anniversary of the JU Revival. Prof. Koj passed away on 29 December 2016 at the age of 81.
Aleksander Koj was born on February 26, 1935 in Gana, a small Silesian village, where his parents were school teachers. In 1951, following the graduation from secondary school in Częstochowa, he began studies at the Medical Academy in Krakow. After two years he took the position of junior assistant to Professor Bolesław Skarżyński, Head of the Department of Physiological Chemistry, renowned for his lectures. In 1957 he obtained a diploma of medical doctor, and in 1961, still working under the guidance of Prof. Skarżyński, a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry. Subsequently, he spent two years as a visiting researcher in the National Institute for Medical Research (London, U.K.), studying protein turnover under the supervision of Dr. Arthur S. McFarlane, a world expert in medical application of radioisotopes. After returning to Kraków he was employed in the Institute of Molecular Biology of the Jagiellonian University, where in 1969 the obtained habilitation and the position of associate professor. This was followed by full professorship in 1976. During the next thirty years he continued research and teaching until 2006, when he retired as professor emeritus at the JU Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology.
Aleksander Koj started research at the Department of Physiological Chemistry, Medical Academy in Krakow, where he studied the metabolism of sulphur compounds (thiosulphate, cysteine and glutathione) in animal tissues. Later, after focusing his interests on the regulation of protein synthesis, he worked for almost five years as a visiting researcher in laboratories of Great Britain, Canada and the USA.
At the JU Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology Prof. Aleksander Koj conducted pioneering research on acute phase proteins and cell response to inflammation. He was the author of over 200 papers in this field, as well as a co-author of two excellent monographs: The Acute Phase Response to Injury and Infection and Interleukin-6-type cytokines.
For his research work, Prof. Koj received numerous awards, included honorary doctorates from there American universities: Cleveland State University (1999), University of Hartford (1995), and University at Buffalo (1998), as well as the Jagiellonian University (2005).
Widely respected in the JU academic community, Prof. Aleksander Koj occupied a number of important university positions. In the years 1987-1990 and 1993-1999 he governed the Jagiellonian University as the rector. During his term-in-office he contributed to the foundation of the Campus of the 600th Anniversary of the JU Revival, for which he laid the cornerstone.
By his colleagues and students, Prof. Koj will always be remembered as an exemplar of expertise, diligence and academic passion.
