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发帖数: 2 | 1 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has dedicated the award the Gregori
Aminoff Prize in Crystallography 2014 to: Yigong Shi Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China
”for his groundbreaking crystallographic studies of proteins and protein
complexes that regulate programmed cell Death”
Professor Yigong Shi, Photo: School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua UniversityIn
order for an organism to survive, its cells need to be replaced regularly;
for each cell that dies a new cell has to be created. Programmed cell death
(apoptosis) is thus an important mechanism for all living organisms as the
amount of cells in the organism needs to be constant. Each day billions of
cells die due to apoptosis and equilibrium is maintained due to the same
amount of cells being born. The process of apoptosis is very carefully
regulated by a large amount of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins that
interplay in a very intricate and complex manner.
Shi's crystallographic studies of the proteins that are part of the
apoptotic machinery have not only resulted in the mapping of the proteins'
three-dimensional structures, but have also led to a detailed understanding
of the mechanisms that regulate the system. Shi has studied apoptotic
mechanisms in human cells, as well as in fruit flies (Drosophila
melanogaster) and roundworms (Caenorhabditis elegans). Yigong Shi and his
collaborators have mapped the complex structural foundation for the
activation of pro-apoptotic caspase enzymes, i.e., the enzymes that activate
cell death, and they have demonstrated the significance of a carefully
regulated interplay between different proteins in the cell. Chi has also
contributed many pioneering insights to other scientific fields. His
research team has, for instance, determined the structure of one variant of
the presenilin family, a group of transmembrane enzymes that among other
things play a part in the genesis and development of Alzheimer's disease.
The Prize will be awarded at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ Annual
Meeting on 31 March 2014.
Prize amount
SEK 100,000
The Laureate
Yigong Shi, Chinese citizen. Born 1967. He studied Biology and Mathematics
at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China and holds a PhD in Molecular
Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD,
USA. Postdoctoral studies were undertaken at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA. For several years he held the title of
Professor at Princeton University, NJ, USA, before returning to China in
2008. He is currently Professor and Dean at Tsinghua University, where he
has established an active and successful research team.
Yigong Shi, The Shi Lab
Crystallography
Crystallography is the science that explores the atomic composition of
solids. In order to reveal the atomic structure of a crystal, scientists use
the method of X-ray crystallography; an X-ray is directed towards a crystal
and this yields a diffraction pattern that can be transformed into a 3D-
model of the crystal. This technique is frequently used in Geology, Physics,
Chemistry, Biology, Medicine and Materials Science and Engineering, in
order to determine the properties of minerals as well as protein and DNA
structures, and for developing new sustainable materials. | t**m
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