Shu Xiaokun, Professor Emeritus, Moves to Fudan University
This year, Shu Xiaokun was appointed the Toby Herfindahl Professor Emeritus at UCSF, marking the culmination of his career as a pioneering researcher in fluorescent protein tools developed in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Roger Y. Tsien.
Inspired by a quote from physicist Richard Feynman, Xiaokun’s UCSF lab aims to explore joy in discovery and innovation. Now, he brings this spirit to China, taking up the role of founding director at the Open Institute for Chemistry and Biotechnology Research Application at Fudan University.
Starting this month, the institute will focus on interdisciplinary research combining physics, chemistry, and biology to develop next-generation fluorescence tools, chemogenetics, and targeted cancer therapies.
According to Fudan University’s website, Xiaokun has received over $20 million in funding from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) during his academic career.
Xiaokun, who initially studied physics and later focused on biomedical physics, made significant breakthroughs in developing infrared fluorescent proteins for live animal tagging and genetic labeling techniques for electron microscopy, broadening the scope of biological and medical research tools.
His achievements led to him becoming an associate professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 2010 and receiving the NIH Young Innovator Award two years later, along with a five-year, $2.36 million research grant.
With a multidisciplinary approach encompassing physics, chemistry, and biology, Xiaokun continues his research at Fudan, covering various fields from physical biology to chemical biology, structural biology, protein engineering, and drug development. In 2019, he received the Maximising Investigators’ Research Award worth $5.91 million over five years to support research programs at the National Institute of General Medicine.
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Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nha-sinh-hoc-noi-tieng-roi-vi-tri-danh-gia-o-dai-hoc-tai-my-ve-trung-quoc-2499757.html
