Nobel Laureate Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn visits iCeMS
March 16, 2016
On March 14, Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell Material Sciences (iCeMS) hosted a seminar inviting Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn of Strasburg University, a Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry.
Prof. Lehn is a founder of "supramolecular chemistry", a field that focuses on molecule collections that form new structures based on weak, reversible bonds. He proposed that molecular architectures and its properties do not depend entirely on chemical bonding, but instead fluctuate according to the aggregation state of molecules. In 1987, Prof. Lehn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development and use of cryptands, a novel molecular architecture to selectively capture ions.
"Supramolecular" chemistry has had a great impact on chemical research in Japan, and has now become one of the strongest research fields in the country. The field has also influenced biochemistry and biology fields; the concept that Protein and DNA are supramolecules, is now a widely accepted notion. iCeMS, as a center that pioneers the integration research of chemistry and cell biology, explained to Prof. Lehn the research goals actively pursued at the institute, which was followed by an active discussion on how to improve them.
"I think the combination of material science and biology sometimes become artificial, but iCeMS is a good environment to think differently about your own problem and generate new ideas for fundamental science and its application," said Prof. Lehn. "'I will change the world' is a good conviction to have and foster."
Photos
iCeMS Director Susumu Kitagawa introducing Prof. Lehn
Prof. lehn delivering a talk
iCeMS researchers attentively listening to the lecture
Young researchers that exchanged views with Prof. Lehn during the first session
Scenes from Session 1
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Researchers and students that conversed with Prof Lehn in the second session
A moment in Session 2