Prof. C. Neil Hunter, Fellow of Royal Society, Krebs Chair in University of Sheffield, UK visited QIBEBT, and received Distinguished Adjunct Professorship in CAS-QIBEBT on 6th June.

Prof. C. Neil Hunter has 37 years’ experience in research on cofactor biosynthesis, and in the assembly, structure, organisation and function of membrane proteins. He is the Chief Editor for the standard textbook in bacterial photosynthesis: ‘The Purple Phototrophic Bacteria’. He was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 2009, in recognition of his contribution to the molecular biology of photosynthetic chlorophyll-protein complexes, to the enzymology of carotenoid and chlorophyll biosynthesis, and for his biophysical studies of light harvesting complexes.

During Prof. Neil’s visit, he gave two talks “Solar energy collection for photosynthesis” and “Painting the planet green: seven steps from porphyrin to chlorophyll”. The talks summarized the basic aspects of light harvesting, and showed how photosynthetic bacteria could provide valuable model systems for analyzing the assembly, organization and function of light-harvesting complexes, and the chlorophyll biosynthesis pathway.

The professorship ceremony was hosted by QIBEBT's Deputy Director General SUI Hongjian. Deputy Director General Prof. LV Xuefeng and Director of BioEnergy Resources Center Prof. XU Jian attended the ceremony.