One research team and five sci-tech workers honored Scientific Innovation and Advancement Award

Peking: One research team and five sci-tech workers from Peking University were granted a medal and five certificates respectively during the second ceremony for the Scientific Innovation and Advancement Award that was held on May 30, China’s National Science and Technology Workers’ day.

The Institute of Medical Innovation and Research of Peking University Third Hospital

The Institute of Medical Innovation and Research of Peking University Third Hospital (PUTH), led by Qiao Jie, executive vice president of PKU’s Health Science Center and president of PUTH, has integrated resources in diverse fields and disciplines, which promotes the disciplinary innovation and the construction of the first-class research-oriented hospital.

Amid the outbreak of COVID-19, the team has given full play to its strength and has made remarkable achievements in basic research, clinical research, innovation and application, epidemic prevention and control, and among others.

PUTH’s medical team, led by Qiao Jie, rushed to Wuhan and treated a large number of patients infected with the novel coronavirus. They made substantial efforts during their medical relief work, thus no patients died from the disease and no medical workers were infected. The team also rapidly carried out clinical research aimed at pregnant and parturient patients, sharing clinical characteristics of pregnancy coronavirus infection, pregnancy outcome, possibility of vertical transmission and some other related research findings in journals like Lancet, NEJM, Chinese Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Science China Life Sciences. In addition, the team has also made improvements in pharmaceutical research targeted at COVID-19.

The team from Peking University Third Hospital has fully displayed the courage and innovation of Chinese sci-tech workers in their work.

Ma Guansheng

Professor Ma Guansheng, director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Peking University, is a member of the State Food and Nutrition Consultant Committee. He actively participated in formulating national food and nutrition policies and offering relevant proposals.

Ma is fully aware of the dialectical relationship between scientific research innovation and the dissemination of scientific knowledge. In recent years, having accomplished scientific research, he has been committed to the dissemination of scientific knowledge about health by writing articles on newspaper, magazines, and other media platforms. Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, he offered suggestions on how to fight against the pandemic effectively and established “Health Group of Dr. Ma” to popularize scientific knowledge.

Given his great contributions to scientific communication, Ma has been honored with many awards such as “Person of the Year in Science Communication”, “Excellent Science Popularization Worker”, and more. The book Dr. Ma Talks About Nutrition edited by him was listed as one of the excellent books in popularizing science.

Lu Lin

Lu Lin, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made a series of achievements in epidemiological features, pathogenesis, intervention strategies, and public health policies of mental diseases and sleep disorders. He has published more than 200 papers in Science, Lancet, JAMA Psychiatry and other leading international journals. Lu has also contributed to promoting the discipline construction of psychiatry and sleep medicine in China by establishing a science and technology innovation base—National Clinical Research Center for Psychiatric and Mental Disorders. He has set up courses in sleep medicine and the abuse and addiction of drugs. Moreover, he is the chief editor of many authoritative books that are teaching materials for students nationwide, which has greatly promoted the development of sleep medicine in China.

As a leading figure in his field, Lu has been devoted to clinical and scientific research ever since the outbreak of the epidemic. He also helped improve the construction of mental health system and spread China’s anti-epidemic experience to the rest of the world. He has also carried out extensive research and systematically studied the epidemic features as well as clinical intervention strategies of mental illness amid the pandemic

Hou Yanglong

Hou Yanglong, Boya distinguished professor of Peking University, director of Beijing Key Laboratory for Magnetoelectric Functional Materials and Devices, was awarded for his great progress in the design and synthesis of multifunctional nanomaterial and its application in biomedical and energy fields. His research provided (1) effective strategies to fabricate new high performance permanent magnet and materials of heterostructure; (2) new types of nanomaterial-based bio-probes excelled in magnetic resonance imaging, photoacoustic tomography, photothermal therapy, and drug delivery; (3) synthetic methods of single-phased carbide granules, whose synthesis remains a challenge for the community of science; (4) new strategies in realizing the potential of magnon electric functional materials based on the newly-found active phase of catalysis in Fischer-tropsch synthesis.

So far, Hou’s group has gained 12 national invention patents and won the second prize of the 2019 National Natural Science Award.

Huo Yong

Professor Huo Yong, chief physician of cardiovascular medicine of the Peking University First Hospital, head of China’s national expert group of cardiovascular interventional treatment technology management and director of National Cardiovascular Disease (coronary heart disease intervention) Quality Control Center, is a famous Chinese expert of heart disease.

For many years, Huo has devoted himself to the development of cardiovascular medicine. His efforts on the transfer of S&T innovation have generated great social and economic benefits over the past three years. Among others, Huo has identified H-type hypertension as the villain of cerebral apoplexy and folic acid supplementation as an effective measure to prevent this disease. Based on this, Huo helped build an H-type hypertension screening intervention network nationwide. Huo has made great contributions to the foundation and popularization of chest pain center system throughout China. Besides, Huo was the founder of 39 online hospitals and initiated the cooperation between his team and over 300 hospitals in western China and other impoverished areas. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Huo worked with other 6 international academic organizations to hold 6 webinars and drew up 4 documents related to the prevention and control of COVID-19 that has gained consensus from experts nationwide. So far, Huo has been granted the second prize of the State Science and Technology Progress Award for 3 times, and his research output won him 4 first-prizes of ministerial and provincial-level awards.

Qu Lijia

Qu Lijia, professor of PKU School of Life Sciences, director of the State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, was awarded for his consistent contributions to the research on plant reproductivity and molecular genesis. His research on the regulation of Arabidopsis gamogenesis generated two key achievements published in Science, one of which, titled “Cysteine-rich peptides promote interspecific genetic isolation in Arabidopsis”, was chosen as Top 10 Scientific Progress in China of 2019. Besides, Professor Qu was the winner of Science and Technology Award for Chinese Youth and was sponsored by China National Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists.

The Scientific Innovation and Advancement Award was jointly set up in 2017 by China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, China Association for Science and Technology, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of China’s State Council. The award is granted every three years. In 2017, four professors from Peking University, i.e. Cheng Heping, Peng Lianmao, Ao Yingfang, Tu Pengfei, were honored.