John Ralph, professor of biochemistry and senior researcher at Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, and his group were honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 International Symposium on Wood, Fiber and Pulping Chemistry. The symposium was held in Venice, Italy at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice from July 4–7.

Ralph’s group is recognized for its work on lignin biosynthesis, including delineation of the pathways of monolignol biosynthesis, lignin chemistry, and lignin reactions. The chemical/structural effects of perturbing lignin biosynthesis has been a focus, and extensions are aimed at redesigning lignins to be more valuable or more readily degraded. The group develops analytical methods and synthetic methods for biosynthetic products, precursors, intermediates, molecular markers, and cell wall model compounds.

More information about the program can be found here.