Niu Jingyi (钮经义, 1920–1995) was a Chinese biochemist. He was born on December 26, 1920, in Xinghua,

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

. In 1942, he graduated from the chemistry department of the

National Southwestern Associated University The National Southwestern Associated University was a national public university from 1938 to 1946 based in Kunming, Yunnan, China. It was formed by the wartime incorporation of National Peking University, National Tsinghua University, and Nat ...

. He served as an instructor of

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

from 1946 to 1948. In 1948, he went to United States to study biochemistry at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

, five years later commenced doctor degree. In 1956, he came back to China. His main research field is natural

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

, containing the structure analysis and chemical synthesis of the protein

polypeptide Peptides are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. A polypeptide is a longer, continuous, unbranched peptide chain. Polypeptides that have a molecular mass of 10,000 Da or more are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty ...

s. In 1953 he finished his doctoral dissertation titled ''the microelement nutrition of the

escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly fo ...

'' at US. In 1958, the Chinese institute of biochemistry started the research of artificial synthesis of the crystallized bovine insulin with Niu as one of the main principals. He designed the synthesis route, and the synthesis finally achieved success in 1965. This achievement won the First National Natural Science Award in 1982. In 1983, he won the State Invention Second Prize for his new achievement in synthesis of the

C-peptide The connecting peptide, or C-peptide, is a short 31-amino-acid polypeptide that connects insulin's A-chain to its B-chain in the proinsulin molecule. In the context of diabetes or hypoglycemia, a measurement of C-peptide blood serum levels ...

. Ge Linjun. ''Niu Jingyi'', ''Encyclopedia of China'' (Biology Edition), 1st ed.

References

External links

A biography of Niu Jingyi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niu, Jingyi 1920 births 1995 deaths Biologists from Jiangsu Chemists from Jiangsu Chinese biochemists Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences National Southwestern Associated University alumni Scientists from Taizhou, Jiangsu People from Xinghua, Jiangsu Chinese expatriates in the United States