Alexander Sergeevich Spirin (Russian: Александр Сергеевич Спирин; 4 September 1931 – 30 December 2020[1]) was a Russian biochemist, Distinguished Professor at the Lomonosov Moscow State University (since 1999),[2] a Director of Institute of Protein Research Russian Academy of Sciences, Puschino (Пущино-на-Оке), Moscow Region (Московская Область), Academician of Russian Academy of Sciences.
His primary scientific interests in biochemistry included nucleic acids and protein biosynthesis.
In 1957 together with Andrey Nikolayevich Belozersky (Андрей Николаевич Белозерский) he conducted comparative analysis of bacterial DNA and RNA,[3] and predicted existence of messenger RNA.
He conducted extra-cellular protein synthesis on modified ribosomes — non-enzymatic translation (together with L.P. Gavrilova) (1970–74).
[5] He was elected an International member of the American Philosophical Society in 1997[6] and a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences in April 2019.