Zbigniew (DIM Zbyszek) Darzynkiewicz (ORCID 0000-0002-2040-7081) (Polish pronunciation: [zbiɡ.ɲɛf daʐɨŋkʲɛvit͡ʂ], DIM [zbɨ.ʂɛk]; born May 12, 1936, in Dzisna, Wilno Voivodeship, Poland[1] – died February 28, 2021)[2] was a Polish-American cell biologist active in cancer research and in developing new methods in histochemistry for flow cytometry.

His application to the University of Warsaw's Department of Physics was denied by the communist Social Justice Committee, who viewed him as an "enemy of the people."

However, following the intervention of Regina Uszyńska, his high school principal, Darzynkiewicz was permitted to submit an application to the Medical University of Warsaw in the fall of 1953.

[1][3][14][5] In Ringertz's laboratory, Darzynkiewicz met Endre A. Balazs, who offered him a research position in the United States.

From January 1986 to September 1990, he was the Head of the Laboratory of Experimental Cell Research, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

[1][7][17] Since 1972, the National Institutes of Health, including the prestigious MERIT award, have provided continuous funding for his research.

[3][28] Darzynkiewicz is also recognized for developing the TUNEL assay (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling), which continues to be one of the most popular methods for measuring apoptosis.

[32] He also contributed significantly to the investigation of mechanisms of cell death induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF).