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Autumn 2022 Medal with Purple Ribbon Presentation Ceremony Held for Professor Ma Jian Feng of Institute of Plant Science and Resources

November 30, 2022

On November 18, Okayama University held the 2022 Autumn Medal with Purple Ribbon presentation ceremony for Professor Ma Jian Feng of Okayama University Institute of Plant Science and Resources. This is because the annual audience at the Imperial Palace and the award ceremony of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology have been postponed from the perspective of preventing the spread of the new coronavirus, so President MAKINO Hirofumi conveyed this award to him.
 
Professor Ma was awarded the ribbon in recognition of his research achievements in plant nutrition and physiology. Plants need a wide variety of transporters to transport mineral nutrients essential for their growth from soil to plant tissues. On the other hand, harmful elements such as cadmium and arsenic present in the soil are also accumulated in edible parts by transporters and affect health. Therefore, the elucidation of the transport mechanisms of minerals is an important issue that is relevant not only to crop productivity and quality, but also to our health. Professor Ma has conducted research on mineral transport mechanisms mainly in crops (rice, barley, buckwheat, etc.) for many years, and has led the world in identifying numerous mineral transporters and elucidating their regulatory mechanisms, which has greatly contributed to the development of agricultural research in Japan.

The ceremony was attended by President Makino, Executive Director TAKAHASHI Kayo (in charge of planning, evaluation, and general affairs), Professor Ma, and Director HIRAYAMA Takashi of Institute of Plant Science and Resources, and President Makino delivered the medal and the award.

Professor Ma said, "I am greatly honored to receive the Medal with Purple Ribbon. I would like to express my gratitude to the many people who congratulated me. I would like to thank the staff, postdocs, students, and collaborators who have shared their joys and sorrows with me." I would like to express my gratitude to all the researchers. Encouraged by this award, I would like to devote myself even more to my work in the future.

ACADEMIC YEAR