Viorel Pais, Ph.D.

 

Viorel Pais, scientific researcher, discovered the cordocyte that is a special phenotype of interstitial cell in the human brain, and demonstrated that pia mater is formed by cordocytes and blood vessels. He initiated and conducted the research regarding the potential, morphological roles of this cell in neuroprotection and vasculoprotection.

 

Dr. Pais was born on 1 May 1942 in Drajna de Jos, Prahova County, Romania where he attended primary school. His father was a prosecutor and his mother was a teacher. He continued his studies at the Nicolae Iorga High School in Valenii de Munte, Prahova County, graduating in 1960. He then attended the Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, and was graduated in 1966. After graduation he worked as biologist and scientific researcher at the Institute of Food Research Bucharest, Department of Microbiology (1967-1971); biologist and scientific researcher at the Dermato-Venereological Centre, Department of Electron Microscopy, Bucharest (1972-1982); scientific researcher at the Neurology and Psychiatry Institute Bucharest, Chief of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory of the Neurosurgery Clinic (1982-1990); specialist biologist at the Gheorghe Lupu Clinical Hospital, Dermatology Clinic, Bucharest (1993-1994); scientific researcher II at the Victor Babes National Institute for Research and Development in Pathology and Biomedical Sciences, Department of Ultrastructural Pathology, Bucharest (1994-2006).

 

Postdoctoral studies

Doctorate in Biology (Cellular Biology) at the University of Bucharest (1973-1976). Doctoral dissertation entitled: "Ultrastructure of precancerous conditions of the skin and malignant cutaneous tumors" (1976).

 

Teaching activity at the academic level

• Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cellular Biology and Histology Department, Bucharest (1980)

• Ecologic University, Faculty of Medicine, Cellular Biology and Histology Department, Bucharest (1992-1994)

• Hyperion University, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Cellular Biology and Histology Department, Bucharest (1995, 1999-2001)

• Titu Maiorescu University, Faculty of Medicine, Bucharest, Cellular Pathology course (1997)

 

National and international scientific societies

• Romanian Society for Cell Biology (1985-2000)

• Balkan Medical Union (1986-1990)

• European Society of Pathology (1997-2000)

• World Stroke Organization (1997-2011)

• American Chemical Society (2010-2011)

• New York Academy of Sciences (2009-2011)

 

International training

Scientific researcher at the Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuropharmacology and the Institute of Molecular Biology and Medical Biotechnology in Utrecht, Netherlands (1991-1992). Between 2008-2012 he was a visiting scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine, California NanoSystems Institute, Electron Imaging Center for Nanomachines in Los Angeles, United States of America.

 

Scientific activity

• Project Director of 32 research grants financed by the Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences

• Published 242 scientific articles nationally and internationally in the neuropathologic, dermatologic and clinical electron microscopy field. His publications are cited by foreign researchers and a book is recommended for bibliography at a national university

• Editorial Board Member, International Journal of Stem Cell Research and Transplantation

• Editorial Board Member, Frontiers in Bioscience

• Reviewer, Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences

• Co-Chairman, BIT's 5th Annual Congress of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell (RMSC-2012), 2-4 December 2012, Guangzhou, China

• Invited Speaker, 4th World Congress on Cell Science & Stem Cell Research, 24–26 June 2014, Valencia, Spain

 

Awards and distinctions

• Gheorghe Marinescu Award of the Romanian Academy in 2008 for the atlas entitled: "Interstitial cells of the human brain. Atlas of light and electron microscopy," Cartea Universitara, Bucharest, 2006 (authors: Viorel Pais, Leon Danaila)

• Who's who in Romania Medical, 2006

• Who's Who in the World, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019

• Who's Who in Science and Engineering, 2016-2017 (12th Edition)

• Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, 2018, 2019

• Honored citizen post-mortem of Valenii de Munte, 2015

• Honored citizen post-mortem of Drajna, 2015

• Post-mortem member, Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences, 2017

 

Value of research nationally and internationally

1. Identified a special phenotype of interstitial cell in the human brain, named "cordocyte" and, significantly, demonstrated the potential, morphological roles of this cell for neuroprotection and vasculoprotection using transmission electron microscopy

2. Proposed the term "cordocytoma" for classification of the fibrous meningeal tumors derived from cordocytes

3. Demonstrated for the first time in the specialty literature using transmission electron microscopy that pia mater is formed by cordocytes and blood vessels

4. Identified a new type of autoschizis and a survival cellular mechanism that involves cell membrane by using transmission electron microscopy

5. Performed experimental electron microscopic studies on the protective action of Gerovital H3 on the skin

6. Designed an electron microscopy study concerning the difference between hematoma and cerebral hemorrhage

7. Introduced the concept of "intimoma" or "myoma" in classification of intimal lesions of atherosclerosis, term accepted by neurosurgeons

8. Described for the first time in the world the intimal sarcoma with transmural migration of tumoral cells

9. Initated, elaborated, and conducted an optional "Cellular Pathology" course at the Faculties of General Medicine and Dentistry - Ecologic University, Titu Maiorescu University, and Hyperion University (1992-2000)

10. Wrote for the first time in Romania a monograph of an organ in normal and pathological conditions by using electron microscopy: "Ultrastructure of the human skin (in normal and pathological conditions)," Editura Medicala, Bucharest (1983)