Yan Ning was nominated for the "Chinese influence World Award"

On March 15, 2017, the Organizing Committee of the Chinese grand ceremony announced that Yan Ning was nominated for the 2016-2017 "World Chinese awards" As a young female scientist, Yan Ning has always been concerned She is not only an outstanding structural biologist, but also a professor and doctoral supervisor of Tsinghua University School of medicine Yan Ning was born in Laiwu, Shandong Province in November 1977 In August 2011, he was supported by the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars, and in 2012, he was awarded the title of "Howard? The International Young Scientist Award of Hughes Medical Research Institute won the China Young Female Scientist Award in December 2012, was selected as a special professor in the "Yangtze River scholars Award Program" of the Ministry of education in December 2014, won the "Young Scientist Award" of the International Protein Society in February 2015, and won the International biophysics award in October 2015 In June 2016, Yan Ning was selected as one of the "stars of Chinese science" by Nature magazine for observing how proteins work at the atomic level and conducting in-depth research on the structure of proteins embedded in the cell membrane Yan Ning, a high-yielding Tsinghua female professor, was admitted to the Department of biology of Tsinghua University in 1996 After receiving her bachelor's degree in 2000, she went to the Department of molecular biology of Princeton University in the United States to study for a doctor's degree under the guidance of Shi Yigong He received his Ph.D from Princeton University in 2004, and then continued to work as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of molecular biology of Princeton University In October 2007, at the invitation of Professor Zhao Nanming, Dean of the Department of biology and executive vice president of the school of medicine of Tsinghua University, Yan Ning returned to Tsinghua University, where he was employed as a professor and doctoral supervisor of the school of medicine of Tsinghua University and set up his own laboratory At that time, she was 30 years old and one of the youngest female professors in China Since his return to China, Yan Ning's scientific research has mainly focused on the exploration of the structure and working mechanism of membrane proteins with important physiological and pathological significance, and a series of achievements have been made, among which the representative works include: first, GLUT1, a glucose transporter protein that has played a key role in physiological metabolism, has been reported in the world for nearly 40 years by the international academic community Through a series of systematic work, the whole process of glucose transport into cells by this small molecular machine is described Secondly, the high-resolution three-dimensional electron microscope structure of two key calcium ion channels controlling muscle contraction is first analyzed These work provide molecular basis and theoretical guidance for understanding these basic physiological processes and developing drugs for related diseases on this basis "When I first built the lab, I was going crazy." Yan Ning said Install the experiment platform, order the instrument and reagent, and teach the students to do experiments by hand With so many twists and turns and so slow progress, she went crazy: "for about half a year, I was extremely anxious Later, when I got on the right track, it was much smoother I felt that there was no difference between doing experiments and foreign countries." "It's no different from foreign countries" and high yield in scientific research Since returning to Tsinghua independent leading laboratory in 2007, Yan Ning has published more than 40 academic papers, including 14 original papers published by corresponding authors in the three top academic journals of nature, science and cell The research results were selected into the "top ten progress of the year" by science magazine in 2009 and 2012 The high speed and level make the counterparts at home and abroad stand out When structural biologists decode proteins, Yan Ning will think about what it looks like outside the universe? By junior high school, she knew the concept of "cell" for the first time, and began to be interested in cells The monkey king in journey to the west can change 72 times Yan Ning would like to know what it would be like if he could change himself: "if you can reduce yourself to the size of molecules or proteins, it must be a different world." Now, as a top structural biologist, Yan Ning lives in that world every day, studying how proteins work at the atomic level "I was almost predestined to be a structural biologist," she said One of her goals is human glucose transporter GLUT1, a protein essential for providing energy to cells Many laboratories tried to parse its structure, but failed, in part because GLUT1 is easy to change shape In June 2014, Yan Ning research group took the lead in the world to analyze the three-dimensional crystal structure of glucose transporter GLUT1 They used a series of techniques to limit its changes, and finally successfully crystallized it In July 2015, Yanning research group went further in the research of glucose transporter glut family: it analyzed the three-dimensional structure of GLUT3, clearly and completely demonstrated the molecular mechanism of glucose transporter work, and provided a direct structural basis for the development of small molecule tumor targeting drugs Glucose is the most basic energy material for all living things on the earth They need GLUT1 as the representative of grape transporter to mediate to enter the cells for metabolism, providing energy to support various biological activities GLUT1 is the most widely studied model transporter, and its structure has been the focus of many laboratories in the past 40 years However, Yan Ning and her team made bold innovations in research ideas and experimental technology, and in just six months, they conquered a problem that has puzzled global biologists for half a century In addition, she has made a series of breakthrough work on sodium ion and calcium ion channels involved in the basic physiological process of muscle contraction, and reported the structure of high-resolution calcium ion channels for the first time in the world These results have been published in nature and science successively, causing great repercussions in the field of International biophysics Yan Ning always has a sense of urgency that we should not wait for the time to come She can spend almost 14 hours a day "staying" in the laboratory; if she is in the critical stage, she can even work until 5 or 6 a.m She pursues the realm of a scientist: "shortly after I returned to Tsinghua University, my colleague Professor Liu Guosong told me three realms of being a scientist: first, career, second, interest and third, eternal life Perhaps only a few people understand academic papers, but the changes brought by major scientific discoveries to society and human beings are indelible " This belief and pursuit, she also repeatedly told the students in the group and more young people "Economic development determines how rich China is, and technological development limits how strong China is I think it is also the most fundamental mission of Chinese scientists for the country to make China's scientific and technological strength match its economic size and make China's scientific research achievements have an impact on the world " In 2014, standing at the graduation ceremony of Tsinghua University, the senior sister sent a message to the students on the stage Now, her biggest wish is to cultivate more super first-class talents in addition to making more super first-class scientific research achievements: "I hope that one day, the students from my laboratory will become professors of various universities and make greater scientific research achievements As a tutor, what can be more gratifying than watching students work miracles? " Nowadays, the students and postdoctors trained by Yan Ning have also achieved remarkable results Several of them have started to independently lead laboratories in different scientific research institutions in China and made important achievements The awarding ceremony of "the world is beautiful because of you - 2016-2017 influence world Chinese grand ceremony" will be held in Huamei, Tsinghua University on the evening of March 31 At that time, the representatives of Beijing Youth Daily, China News Agency, Ming Pao, Phoenix Satellite TV, phoenix.com, Xingzhou daily, Ta Kung Pao, Wangwang Zhongshi media group, Hong Kong Wen Hui Pao, world daily (North America), Asia Weekly, Yidian information, overseas Chinese News and European times will gather at the scene to ask the winners questions (BIOON Com)