SPRUC 2022 Young Scientist Award

The SPRUC 2022 Young Science Award (YSA) is given to a young scientist who is recognized as having established a notable achievement in the development of a new experimental technique or a new method for data analysis, or having achieved remarkable results in the studied field by making use of the characteristic features of SPring-8/SACLA.

Award winner	Dr. Ichiro Inoue / RIKEN SPring-8 Center
Research subject	Development of unique XFEL modes and their applications to high-intensity X-ray science
Citation for the award	Dr. Ichiro Inoue has made significant contributions to XFEL science by developing novel XFEL modes and measurement techniques that enhance the potential of XFELs. He pioneered the X-ray−X-ray pump-probe measurement to capture the XFEL-induced damage processes occurring on a femtosecond time scale using the two-color XFEL pulses in the hard X-ray regime initiated at SACLA. A series of studies revealed that the crystal structures do not change within about 20 femtoseconds after irradiation of the pump pulse. This result provides the basis for the “diffraction before destruction” concept and opens the way for the single-particle XFEL analysis, which is one of the ultimate goals of XFEL science. Furthermore, he has realized the novel reflection self-seeding mode using a micro channel-cut crystal monochromator and has successfully generated nearly Fourier-transform limited XFEL pulses with a spectral brightness six times higher than that of the SASE mode. The reflection self-seeding mode characterizes SACLA and has been used in many user experiments, leading to significant research accomplishments. In addition, he has demonstrated shortening of the XFEL pulse duration via saturable absorption as the first practical nonlinear optical element in the X-ray regime. The originality of the work also lies in the evaluation of pulse duration employing intensity correlation of fluorescent X-rays. For these breakthrough achievements in XFEL science, Dr. Ichiro Inoue deserves the SPRUC 2022 Young Scientist Award.

Award winner	Dr. Yoshihiko Furuike / Institute for Molecular Science
Research subject	Elucidation of master allostery essential for circadian clock oscillation in cyanobacteria
Citation for the award	Life is a dynamic system in nature, and it is essential to elucidate the structural basis of this dynamic system in order to understand life phenomena. On the earth, environmental factors (temperature, humidity, light, etc.) fluctuate with a period of about 24 hours (circadian) as the earth rotates. Many living organisms have a dynamic system called a circadian clock, and the problem of the precise control mechanism of the circadian clock system that hosts the earth's rotation period in the living organism is one of the research themes that are fundamental to life phenomena. Dr. Yoshihiko Furuike has targeted the cyanobacterial circadian clock system, in which the interaction of three proteins, KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC, marks the circadian rhythm of approximately 24 hours, as the target of his research. Through the results of research using SPring-8, he succeeded for the first time in the world in elucidating the entire KaiC phosphorylation cycle, which is the basis of the circadian clock, on an atomic scale. The finding that the phosphorylation cycle of a single site is the structural basis for the expression of circadian rhythms overturns the conventional theory and is the world's first demonstration that even phosphorylation of a single site can generate circadian rhythms as long as the smallest unit of structural change associated with phosphorylation and dephosphorylation remains there. The results of Dr. Furuike’s research are expected to extend beyond the mere elucidation of circadian rhythms to the elucidation of the structural basis for various dynamic controls in cells, and further contribute to the development of new drug discovery and other areas. From this point of view, Dr. Yoshihiko Furuike deserves the winner of the Young Scientist Award 2022.