Xu Genjun (; 23 November 1935 – 8 January 2008) was a Chinese biochemist. He was a professor at the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. He was an academician of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

and President of the Chinese Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Biography

Xu was born in

She County, Anhui She County (), or Shexian, is a county in the southeast of Anhui Province, China, bordering Zhejiang Province to the east. It is the easternmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Huangshan City. It has a population of 363,000 ...

on 23 November 1935. He graduated from the Chemistry Department of

Fudan University Fudan University (FDU) is a public university, national public university in Yangpu, Shanghai, Yangpu, Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and is co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal ...

in 1957, and joined the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry afterwards, where he participated in and made significant contributions to the insulin synthesis project led by

Wang Yinglai Wang Yinglai (; 13 November 1907 – 5 May 2001), also known as Ying-Lai Wang, was a Chinese biochemist recognized as the first person to create synthetic insulin, a major scientific breakthrough that produced a biologically active compound fro ...

. He later researched

enzyme kinetics Enzyme kinetics is the study of the rates of enzyme catalysis, enzyme-catalysed chemical reactions. In enzyme kinetics, the reaction rate is measured and the effects of varying the conditions of the reaction are investigated. Studying an enzyme' ...

, chemical modification of proteins, the relationship between proteins' structure and function, and the folding and refolding of proteins. Xu published more than 100 research papers in academic journals. He was a two-time winner of the

State Natural Science Award The State Science and Technology Prizes () are the highest honors conferred by the national government of the People's Republic of China in science and technology, in order to recognize citizens and organizations who have made remarkable contribut ...

(first class), in addition to several national prizes by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He was also awarded the

Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize The Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation (HLHL, ) is a Hong Kong–based non-government organisation which annually bestows prizes upon Chinese scientists. It was established on 30 March 1994, with funds donated from the charitable foundations of Ho Sin ...

for Life Sciences. He was elected as an academician of the CAS in 1991. Xu died on 8 January 2008 at

Zhongshan Hospital Zhongshan Hospital (), formerly Chung Shan Memorial Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in Shanghai, China, affiliated with the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University. History The hospital was built in 1935 and officially opened on 1 A ...

in Shanghai, at the age of 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Genjun 1935 births 2008 deaths Biologists from Anhui Chemists from Anhui Chinese biochemists Fudan University alumni Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences People from She County, Anhui