iHuman Institute Distinguished Professor Dr. Kurt Hermann Wüthrich, Nobel Chemistry Laureate, was honored with the 2020 Magnolia Award in recognition of his great contributions to scientific research achievement and of nurturing and mentoring Chinese young scientists.
The Magnolia Award has been awarded annually since 1989, which was established to commend and encourage foreign experts for their outstanding contributions to Shanghai’s economic and social development. The 2020 Magnolia Award was given to 50 distinguished foreigners from 19 countries. They work on economy and trade, finance, science and technology, education, culture and health.
Dr. Wüthrich received the 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy for determining the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution. In 2013, Dr. Wüthrich joined ShanghaiTech’s iHuman Institute as a Distinguished Professor and found the first NMR laboratory in ShanghaiTech. The NMR team operates a molecular biology/biochemistry laboratory for functional and biophysical studies of proteins, in particular for investigations of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and their interaction proteins, and for the preparation of isotope-labeled proteins in supermolecular complexes for NMR studies.
Dr. Wüthrich actively promoted the cooperation between ShanghaiTech and the Scripps Institute, Harvard University, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and many domestic research institutions. He has made significant contributions to the popularization and application of liquid nuclear magnetic technology in China, and to ShanghaiTech becoming a world-class GPCR research center.