Professor receives double honours in China

Professor Neil Hunter has received two prestigious awards in China, one of which will allow him to undertake research to engineer photosynthetic bacteria and algae to make biodiesel.

The funding for the research comes from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which has awarded Neil with a visiting professorship. One of the first recipients of the new award, Neil will work on the collaborative research at the Qingdao Institute of BioEnergy and Bioprocess Technology in China.

Neil, from the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, said: “It’s a great honour to be one of the first recipients of this new CAS award and it gives me the opportunity to make repeated visits and establish research links with a CAS institute.

“I will be undertaking valuable research in synthetic biology and biofuels, both of which are aligned with Sheffield’s interests.”

Neil has also been awarded an honorary professorship from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and recently delivered their 21st Master Distinguished Lecture on solar energy collection for photosynthesis.

The Shanghai Jiao Tong award, which lasts three years, gives Neil opportunities to forge links with researchers discovering new types of bacteria that live on the ocean floor, containing genes of future potential for synthetic biology.

“The award from Shanghai Jiao Tong University is also very special to me because four of the previous recipients are Nobel Laureates,” said Neil.

Already a Fellow of the Royal Society, Neil praises Dr Wei Huang of the Kroto Institute for helping to establish these valuable research links with China.

He said: “All of my collaborations in China and visits are undertaken jointly with Wei – his political and scientific connections in China are invaluable for our joint research projects.”