Biochemist receives Chinese award

Professor emeritus Jan-Christer Janson and Okimura Kazuki, president of the Japan Science and Technology Agency, at the award ceremony in Beijing.

The 2015 state science and technology awards were bestowed at a formal ceremony attended by the Chinese president Xi Jinping and the Chinese premier Li Keqiang, in front of an audience of 3000 in the Great Hall of the People by Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Jan-Christer Jansson has worked with Chinese researchers and corporations on the separation and cleansing of proteins for many years. Among other things, he has contributed to the development of processes for the industrial production of vaccines and cancer drugs.

So how was the actual ceremony?

‘I was first among the seven awardees, so I had the great honour of shaking hands and having a few words with President Xi Jinping’, Jan-Christer Janson says.