German biochemist and Nobel laureate Hartmut Michel has taken up a full-time position as a professor at Jilin University in Changchun, northeastern China, according to the university.

The 77-year-old – who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for revealing how photosynthesis works at the molecular level – will join the university’s First Hospital as “a flagship hire under its talent recruitment strategy”, the university said in a statement last week.

It said Michel told the university’s Communist Party chief Tian Hui during a meeting on April 21 that the university had a strong academic base and had made steady progress across many fields in recent years.

He said he looked forward to working with university teams to advance research in structural biology, drug development and translational medicine, and to help train young scientists and develop world-class research programmes.

Tian said the university would fully support Michel and hoped he would help drive research breakthroughs and strengthen international collaboration, particularly between China and Germany.

He added that building a world-class university depended on attracting top academic talent, and that Jilin was stepping up efforts to recruit and nurture leading scientists under a broader talent drive.