Hao Wu to receive 2024 Gregori Aminoff Prize

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Gregori Aminoff Prize in crystallography 2024 to Hao Wu (Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, MA, USA) for her discoveries by crystallography of the assembly mechanisms of large oligomeric signaling complexes in innate immunity, a paradigm-shifting concept in signal transduction.

The innate immune system provides the body with its first line of response to dangerous bacteria, viruses and hazardous substances, and consists of proteins on the cells’ surface and inside them. Once the system is activated, large protein complexes are built for the purpose of neutralising the attacking organisms. Professor Wu has used protein crystallography and cryoEM to establish how these protein complexes form, as well as their structures. Her research has led to an entirely new and improved understanding of how the innate immune system functions.

“Professor Wu is a master at identifying important biological issues and solving them using advanced structural and biochemical methods. Her discoveries may be of huge importance in understanding the causes of inflammatory diseases, their progression and treatment,” says Björn Dahlbäck, professor emeritus at Lund University and a member of the Prize Committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The Gregori Aminoff Prize in crystallography recognises a documented individual contribution to the field of crystallography, and has been awarded to Swedish and foreign researchers since 1979. See previous laureates here.