The Protein Science Young Investigator Award, named for the academic journal
of the Society, Recognizes a scientist generally within the first 8 years
of an independent career who has made an important contribution to the study
of proteins. The 2015 winner is Dr. Nieng Yan (School of Medicine at
Tsinghua University / HHMI). Dr. Yan's independent track record of
accomplishment in membrane protein (and other) structural biology spans less
than a decade but is nothing less than stunning. She has contributed a
number of important crystal structures of transporters, including the
landmark human GLUT1. Her impact extends into the ion channels field, where
she had contributed major structures of sodium channels. Most recently, she
has used new-generation EM methods to determine a high resolution structure
of the ryanodine receptor. Her work is characterized not only by the pursuit
of targets that can be described as "high hanging fruit", but also by being
thoroughly anchored by focusing on how protein structural information can
be employed to illuminate protein function and related biology.