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

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

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

National Southwestern Associated University When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha and later National Southwestern Associated Universi ...

. He served as an instructor of

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

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. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, 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 scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...

, containing the structure analysis and chemical synthesis of the protein

polypeptide Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A p ...

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. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...

'' 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, 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 lev ...

.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