World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
Jian-Ren Shen

Jian-Ren Shen

D-Index & Metrics

Chemistry

D-Index
71
Citations
23817
World Ranking
5438
National Ranking
332

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2020 - Gregori Aminoff Prize, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for their fundamental contributions to the understanding of biological redox metal clusters

Overview

Jian-Ren Shen is affiliated with Okayama University in Japan and has an extensive publication record primarily in the fields of biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology. Their work spans several subfields, including molecular biology, renewable energy, sustainability and the environment, cellular and molecular neuroscience, atomic and molecular physics and optics, and plant science.

The scientist's research covers a variety of topics with a strong focus on photosynthetic processes and mechanisms, photoreceptor and optogenetics research, spectroscopy and quantum chemical studies, algal biology and biofuel production, mitochondrial function and pathology, marine and coastal ecosystems, as well as microbial community ecology and physiology.

Jian-Ren Shen has coauthored frequently with several researchers, including:

  • Ryo Nagao
  • Wenda Wang
  • Koji Kato
  • Tingyun Kuang
  • Yoshiki Nakajima

The scientist's work is often published in notable venues such as:

  • Photosynthesis Research
  • Nature Communications
  • Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Bioenergetics
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • The Journal of Physical Chemistry B

Among recent papers authored by Jian-Ren Shen are:

  • "Light-adapted charge-separated state of photosystem II: structural and functional dynamics of the closed reaction center" (2021, The Plant Cell)
  • "Structural basis for the adaptation and function of chlorophyll f in photosystem I" (2020, Nature Communications)
  • "Structure of photosystem I-LHCI-LHCII from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in State 2" (2021, Nature Communications)
  • "Liquid-Liquid Phase Transition Drives Intra-chloroplast Cargo Sorting" (2020, Cell)
  • "Structural basis for energy transfer in a huge diatom PSI-FCPI supercomplex" (2020, Nature Communications)

Jian-Ren Shen has also contributed to book publications, including the book titled Photosynthesis: Molecular Approaches to Solar Energy Conversion, published in 2021 by Springer Nature in the Netherlands.

The scientist received the Gregori Aminoff Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2020 for fundamental contributions to the understanding of biological redox metal clusters.

Best Publications

  • Crystal structure of oxygen-evolving photosystem II at a resolution of 1.9 Å.

    Yasufumi Umena;Keisuke Kawakami;Keisuke Kawakami;Jian Ren Shen;Nobuo Kamiya

  • Crystal structure of oxygen-evolving photosystem II from Thermosynechococcus vulcanus at 3.7-A resolution

    Nobuo Kamiya;Jian Ren Shen

  • Native structure of photosystem II at 1.95 Å resolution viewed by femtosecond X-ray pulses.

    Michihiro Suga;Fusamichi Akita;Kunio Hirata;Go Ueno

  • The Structure of Photosystem II and the Mechanism of Water Oxidation in Photosynthesis

    Jian Ren Shen

  • Manganese Compounds as Water-Oxidizing Catalysts: From the Natural Water-Oxidizing Complex to Nanosized Manganese Oxide Structures

    Mohammad Mahdi Najafpour;Gernot Renger;Małgorzata Hołyńska;Atefeh Nemati Moghaddam

  • Light-induced structural changes and the site of O=O bond formation in PSII caught by XFEL.

    Michihiro Suga;Fusamichi Akita;Fusamichi Akita;Michihiro Sugahara;Minoru Kubo

  • A synthetic Mn4Ca-cluster mimicking the oxygen-evolving center of photosynthesis

    Chunxi Zhang;Changhui Chen;Hongxing Dong;Jian Ren Shen

  • Structural basis for energy transfer pathways in the plant PSI-LHCI supercomplex

    Xiaochun Qin;Xiaochun Qin;Michihiro Suga;Tingyun Kuang;Jian Ren Shen;Jian Ren Shen

  • An oxyl/oxo mechanism for oxygen-oxygen coupling in PSII revealed by an x-ray free-electron laser

    Michihiro Suga;Michihiro Suga;Fusamichi Akita;Fusamichi Akita;Keitaro Yamashita;Yoshiki Nakajima

  • Binding and functional properties of two new extrinsic components, cytochrome c-550 and a 12-kDa protein, in cyanobacterial photosystem II

    Jian Ren Shen;Yorinao Inoue

  • Determination of damage-free crystal structure of an X-ray-sensitive protein using an XFEL

    Kunio Hirata;Kyoko Shinzawa-Itoh;Naomine Yano;Shuhei Takemura

  • Location of chloride and its possible functions in oxygen-evolving photosystem II revealed by X-ray crystallography

    Keisuke Kawakami;Yasufumi Umena;Nobuo Kamiya;Jian Ren Shen

  • Structural basis for blue-green light harvesting and energy dissipation in diatoms

    Wenda Wang;Wenda Wang;Long Jiang Yu;Caizhe Xu;Takashi Tomizaki

  • Theoretical illumination of water-inserted structures of the CaMn4O5 cluster in the S2 and S3 states of oxygen-evolving complex of photosystem II: full geometry optimizations by B3LYP hybrid density functional.

    H. Isobe;M. Shoji;S. Yamanaka;Y. Umena

  • S1-State Model of the O2-Evolving Complex of Photosystem II

    Sandra Luber;Ivan Rivalta;Yasufumi Umena;Keisuke Kawakami

  • The pigment-protein network of a diatom photosystem II–light-harvesting antenna supercomplex

    Xiong Pi;Songhao Zhao;Wenda Wang;Desheng Liu

  • Structure of the catalytic, inorganic core of oxygen-evolving photosystem II at 1.9 Å resolution

    Keisuke Kawakami;Yasufumi Umena;Nobuo Kamiya;Jian Ren Shen

  • Unique organization of photosystem I-light harvesting supercomplex revealed by cryo-EM from a red alga

    Xiong Pi;Lirong Tian;Huai En Dai;Xiaochun Qin

  • Photosystem II and the unique role of bicarbonate: a historical perspective.

    Dmitriy Shevela;Julian J. Eaton-Rye;Jian Ren Shen;Govindjee;Govindjee

  • Structure of Sr-substituted photosystem II at 2.1 Å resolution and its implications in the mechanism of water oxidation

    Faisal Hammad Mekky Koua;Yasufumi Umena;Keisuke Kawakami;Jian Ren Shen

  • Lipids in oxygen-evolving photosystem II complexes of cyanobacteria and higher plants

    Isamu Sakurai;Jian Ren Shen;Jing Leng;Shunsuke Ohashi

Frequent Co-Authors

Suleyman I. Allakhverdiev
Suleyman I. Allakhverdiev Russian Academy of Sciences
Tingyun Kuang
Tingyun Kuang Chinese Academy of Sciences
Kizashi Yamaguchi
Kizashi Yamaguchi Osaka University
Mohammad Mahdi Najafpour
Mohammad Mahdi Najafpour Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences
Tatsuya Tomo
Tatsuya Tomo Tokyo University of Science
Masahiko Ikeuchi
Masahiko Ikeuchi University of Tokyo
Julian J. Eaton-Rye
Julian J. Eaton-Rye University of Otago
Shigeru Itoh
Shigeru Itoh Nagoya University

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