Jaak Järv (born 5 November 1948) is an Estonian chemist and professor emeritus of organic chemistry at the University of Tartu. He was elected a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences in 1997 and served as its secretary general from 2017 to 2024. His research has focused on bioorganic chemistry, especially enzyme catalysis, receptor–ligand interactions, biomimetics, and structure–activity relationships of bioactive compounds.
Early life and education Järv was born in Tartu. He graduated from Tartu 5th Secondary School in 1967 and from the University of Tartu cum laude in 1972. In 1976 he received the degree of Candidate of Sciences in chemistry at the Institute of Chemistry of the Estonian Academy of Sciences with a dissertation on the kinetics of the active centre of acetylcholinesterase. He received a Doctor of Sciences degree from Moscow State University in 1990 with a dissertation on kinetic mechanisms of receptor–ligand interactions involving the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor, and he was appointed professor in 1991.
Career Järv has been associated with the University of Tartu throughout his career. He joined the university in 1972 as a researcher in organic chemistry, became senior teacher in 1976, associate professor in 1982, and deputy pro-rector for research in 1983. From 1991 to 2002 he was professor of bioorganic chemistry, and from 2002 he was professor of organic chemistry. He served as dean of the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry from 1998 to 2003. He also worked abroad as a postdoctoral researcher at Stockholm University in 1978–1979 and as a visiting professor at Uppsala University in 1995. In scientific administration, Järv was president of the Estonian Biochemical Society from 2004 to 2011 and has represented the Estonian Academy of Sciences on the European Academies' Science Advisory Council since 2020. He joined the editorial board of Bioorganic Chemistry in 1983 and became editor-in-chief of Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences in 2007.
Research Järv's work lies at the intersection of organic, bioorganic, and physical chemistry. According to the Estonian Academy of Sciences' biographical register, his principal research areas have included the design and synthesis of bioactive compounds and biomimetics, receptor ligands including label molecules for positron emission tomography, quantitative analysis of structure–activity relationships, ligand mechanisms at G protein-coupled receptors, the kinetics and mechanisms of enzyme catalysis, and molecular recognition in enzyme catalysis and receptor binding. A 2001 international evaluation of Estonian chemistry research described his work as bridging bioorganic and traditional physical chemistry, with particular emphasis on the multistep kinetics of enzyme reactions. A 2023 review of biosensor research at the University of Tartu credited Järv and Toomas Tenno with initiating biosensor studies there in the early 1980s. The Academy's 2021 register listed more than 250 research articles and 22 master's theses under his supervision, together with a long record of completed doctoral dissertations. A 2013 biographical note in Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences stated that he had published more than 200 refereed research papers and ten book chapters.
Honours Järv received the Estonian SSR Science Prize in 1987, an honorary doctorate from the University of Kuopio in 1991, and an honorary doctorate in medical sciences from Uppsala University in 1996. He received the Paul Kogerman Medal in 1998 and the Estonian science prize in 2000. Later honours have included the University of Tartu Badge of Distinction in 2007, the University of Tartu Medal in 2008, the Order of the White Star, 3rd Class, in 2009, the Estonian Academy of Sciences Medal in the same year, election to Academia Europaea in 2020, and the University of Tartu decoration "100 Semesters at the University of Tartu" in 2020.
Selected works Järv, Jaak, ed. (2007). Tartu Ülikooli keemiaosakond 1947–2007 [Department of Chemistry of the University of Tartu 1947–2007] (in Estonian). Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus. ISBN 978-9949-11-755-0. Tuulmets, Ants; Salmar, Siim; Järv, Jaak (2010). Sonochemistry in Water Organic Solutions. New York: Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 978-1-61761-175-9. Loog, Olavi; Timotheus, Heiki; Järv, Jaak (2012). Orgaanilised polümeerid [Organic Polymers] (in Estonian). Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus. ISBN 978-9949-19-973-0.
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