Prof. Johann Deisenhofer, winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry paid a visit GIBH

On the afternoon of April 20th, the Einstein Professor of CAS, winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry Prof. Johann Deisenhofer was invited to visit GIBH, and made an academic presentation, entitled Structural insights into cholesterol homeostasis. Dr. Jinsong Liu from GIBH hosted the seminar and over 200 scientists and graduate students attended it.

During the presentation, Prof. Johann Deisenhofer introduced the structures of HMG-CoA reductase, LDL receptor, and PCSK9 related to cholesterol homeostasis and discussed the effects of mutations on these proteins' function from the structural level, with emphasis of actual and potential drug targets. His elaborate lecture received active response and aroused many questions from the audience.

After the presentation, Prof. Deisenhofer was toured around the Public Instrument Center and the Institute of Chemical Biology at GIBH, and then held a panel discussion with GIBH’s scientists over the issues of the academic research and research innovation.

Prof. Johann Deisenhofer was born in Germany in 1943. He studied physics at the Technical University Munich, and in 1974 received a doctoral degree in experimental physics. He received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Hartmut Michel and Robert Huber in 1988 for their determination of the first crystal structure of an integral membrane protein. He is Regental Professor and Professor in Biochemistry, and holds the Virginia and Edward Linthicum Distinguished Chair in Biomolecular Science at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas; he is also Investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.