IMCAS Professor Invited to Review German Research Foundation Priority Program

Professor Liu Shuangjiang, director of the Center for Environmental Microbiology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, was invited by the German Research Foundation (abbreviated DFG, i.e., Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) to attend an review meeting regarding one of its Priority Programs in 2008 (No.1319): Biological Transformation of Hydrocarbons in the Absence of Oxygen: From the molecular to the Global Scale. The meeting was organized in March 24 in Bonn, Germany. This priority program was initiated in August 2007. Its main purpose is to study biotransformation mechanisms of alkane and other carbohydrates under anaerobic conditions, to discover new microbiological metabolic reactions, and to study the ecological and geochemical factors which can influence and control biotransformation reactions in natural environment. Eight experts, from the U.S.A, Switzerland, China and Germany respectively, participated in this review meeting. It is the first time that a Chinese scientist participated in assessing a DFG priority program. Professor Liu was also invited by the US National Science Foundation to be one of its reviewers.