Hosted by Professor Jianyuan Sun, Dr. Thomas C. Südhof, the professor of Stanford University and the member of National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, andAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences of USA, visited the Institute of Biophysics (IBP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), on June 28-29, 2010.

As a world renowned neuroscientist, Dr. Südhof is awarded the CAS Einstein Professorship this year. In recent 25 years, Dr. Südhof has made extraordinary contributions to the research of molecular mechanism of neurotransmitter release and synaptic transmission. For discovering the molecular basis of neurotransmitter release, he laureates the prestige Kalvi Prize in 2010.

After meeting with a few faculties, including Dr. XU Tao (the director of IBP) and Dr. XU Ruiming (the deputy director of IBP), Professor Südhof delivered the official Einstein Professorship Lecture entitled “How calcium triggers neurotransmitter release” to the scientists and graduate students from IBP and other CAS institutes as well as local universities. In the talk, Professor Südhof reported his new discoveries on mechanism of synaptic vesicle release and the fundamental function of some key synaptic proteins. Based on some new evidences, he revealed how vesicular proteins, synaptotagmin1 and its other isoforms, are functioning as a calcium sensor in triggering synchronous synaptic vesicle release and predicted the possible mechanism of vesicle asynchronous release. Professor Südhof also discussed about the interaction between Munc18 protein and the SNARE complex and its possible physiological function.

Professor Südhof’s visit to IBP is a part of the Einstein Professorship Program which was initiated by CAS in 2004 to strengthen science and technology links, cooperation and exchange between CAS scientists and respective Einstein Professors and their laboratories, and enhance the training of future generations of scientists. Einstein Professorships are awarded each year to 20 distinguished international scientists actively working at the frontiers of science and technology, for conducting lecture-tours to China. Professor Südhof has visited the Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai and the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei before his official Einstein Professorship Lecture in IBP.

Dr. Thomas C. Südhof

Dr. Thomas C. Südhof and Dr. XU Tao

Professor Jianyuan Sun

Dr. Thomas C. Südh, Dr. XU Ruiming and Professor Jianyuan Sun