Honorary Professorship for Gerhard Bringmann

In a solemn ceremony Prof. Wen-Cai Ye, Dean of the College of Pharmacy of the Jinan University, presented Gerhard Bringmann’s career and acknowledged his merits. The Vice-President of the University, Prof. Qin Ye, then awarded the certificate for the honorary professorship. Bringmann is the first German to be honored this way by the College of Pharmacy in more than 100 years of history of Jinan University.

In a scientific talk, Bringmann then presented his own work, in particular the joint results achieved together with his host, Prof. Jun Wu. Bringmann and Wu have been cooperating successfully for many years; both of them have already published numerous joint papers in high-ranking scientifical journals.

Agents from Mangroves Investigated

Prof. Wu and Prof. Bringmann have isolated novel agents from Chinese and Indian plants. Some of the investigated substances work against the production of biofilms by certain bacteria. Jun Wu is an appreciated expert for such mangrove substances, Gerhard Bringmann is an acknowledged scientist in the field of the three-dimensional structures of complex natural products.

The two scientists have combined their specific expertise and thus elucidated in detail demanding molecular structures. The exact knowledge of the three-dimensional architecture of an agent is indispensable for the understanding of its bioactivity, but also for the synthetic production of the substance in the chemical lab, and for the selective modification of the structure, aiming at the improvement of the activity

Congo Project Presented

In his talk Bringmann then also presented the excellence scholarship program BEBUC, which he, with his partners, initiated in the Congo and which meanwhile supports nearly 70 excellent young students and scientists of eight universities, three high schools, and one primary school on their way to a university career.

Partnership Agreement Signed

Another highlight of the ceremony was the solemn signing of the cooperation agreement between Jinan University and the University of Würzburg (already signed on the part of the University of Würzburg). At the same time, Bringmann presented a video message with a welcome address by Prof. Alfred Forchel, the President of the University of Würzburg.

In a separate meeting, Prof. Hu Jun, the President of Jinan University, expressed his joy about the strong partnership. He thanked the initiators, Prof. Wu and Prof. Bringmann, for their commitment, and promised his support.