Florkin was graduated in 1928 as a Doctor in Medicine and became in 1934 a professor of biochemistry at the University of Liège.
Together with Christian de Duve, and others, he wrote a proposal for the statutes which was adopted in 1952, on the first general meeting.
In 1944, he published a book (translated to English in 1949) concerning biochemical evolution, in which he explained the relevance of evolution for understanding differences in metabolism and chemical makeup between different types of organisms.
[2] In later years he applied the principles of biosemiotics (indicator biology) on biochemistry.
In 1946, Marcel Florkin was awarded the Francqui Prize on Biological and Medical Sciences.