Professor Shen Jian-Ren, Vice Dean of Okayama University’s Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, was awarded the Gregori Aminoff Prize for 2020 together with Professor Douglas Rees from the California Institute of Technology. The prize was given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to researchers who made outstanding achievements in the field of crystallography. The award ceremony and commemorating lecture will take place at the academy’s annual meeting held in Stockholm on March 30 and 31, 2020.

The Gregori Aminoff Prize is given annually to a researcher or a joint research group from across the globe who made great contributions in the field of crystallography. This time, Professor Shen and Professor Rees were jointly awarded the prize for “their fundamental contributions to the understanding of biological redox metal clusters.” Professor Shen has been studying the structure and functions of a manganese duster that catalyzes the water-splitting reaction by a membrane protein complex photosynthesis. Profesor Shen is awarded the prize for his elucidation of the structure of photosystem II and the mechanism of the water-splitting reaction.

Professor Shen was delighted to receive the news and describes: “It is a great honor to be awarded with the Gregori Aminoff Prize. My achievements so far are the results of joint research with many co-researchers. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my co-researchers, and continue my efforts to obtain even greater research results.”