2011 Awardees at Ceremony

Hongguang Xia

Background: Mr. Xia received his bachelor degree in chemistry from Fudan University and is conducting his Ph.D. research under the direction of Dr. Junying Yuan, an adjunct professor at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on mechanistic studies of autophagy by a chemical biology approach using novel small molecule inhibitors and inducers.

Citation: Mr. Xia impressed the interview committee with his clear thinking in both the presentation of his research and answering a wide range of questions from the committee members. He clearly understands the biology and mechanistic issues related to his research project. Coupled with his strong chemistry background, the committee believes that Mr. Xia is an exceptionally promising young scientist in the exciting field of chemical biology. Mr. Xia has already accomplished a great deal in his studies as evidenced by his substantial and key contributions to the description of a new autophagy inhibitor and its mechanism and implications to cancer biology. As his mentor suggested, with his knowledge in both chemistry and biology, he represents a new class of “bilingual” talents who have a bright future in making important contributions to cross-disciplinary biomedical researches.

This prize is sponsored by Amgen.

Jing Ren

Background: Ms. Ren received her BS from Jilin University in 2008, and entered the PhD program in National Institute of Biological Sciences (NIBS)/Beijing Normal University in 2008. Her advisor is Dr. Minmin Luo. She has made a novel discovery about the co-release of two neurotransmitters, acetylcholine and glutamate, from the same neuron. She showed that these two transmitters co-exist in the same vesicle using biochemical approaches. She is now working on the feed-back control of neuro-transmitter release by nitroxides and has the potential of identifying a new neurotransmitter.

Citation: She is very passionate about her project and has a clear idea about the overall significance of her study. Her knowledge of the research topic she is working on is exceptionally comprehensive. She is also quite knowledgeable in the broad area of her research. She has a remarkable ability to solve experimental problems on her own. She has a clear understanding of her project and explained her work very well. The committee is very impressed with her progress as a third year student and believes that she has great potentials.

This prize is sponsored by CST China.

Wei Xu

Background: Ms. Xu received her bachelor degree in biology from Zhejiang University. She is carrying out her Ph.D. study in Drs. Yue Xiong and Kunliang Guan’s MCB Laboratory at Fudan University Medical School. Her research is in the area of cancer metabolism. Ms. Xu has an impressive resume with multiple highly influential papers for which she has made important contributions.

Citation: She showed good understanding of her work and responded well to a broad range of questions from the interviewing committee. She is highly recommended by both of her mentors and was cited as one of the hardest working students they have seen, a characteristic obviously supported by her unusual productivity and observed by the committee. She is also very talented and meticulous, which are qualities enabling her to succeed as an independent scientist.

This prize is sponsored by Epitomics, Inc.

Cao-Qi Lei

Background: Mr. Lei received his B.S. and MBA from Wuhan University and is now conducting his Ph.D. work in Dr. Hong-Bing Shu’s laboratory at Wuhan University. He grew up in a farmer’s family and was the only one attending college. Being practical, his original motivation of getting a MBA was to increase his job opportunity. After being recommended to graduate school directly, he became very passionate about academic research. His research focuses on the biochemical aspects of anti-viral innate immunity. He has made major contributions in this intense area of research.

Citation: He described his research clearly and has broad knowledge about viral immune responses. He is very modest and honest about himself. He describes himself as being more cautious and more observing, which is echoed by his referees who depict him as thoughtful and hard working. The committee find him highly motivated and with potentials to develop into a successful scientist.

This prize is sponsored by CBIS.

Xiang Gao

Background: Mr. Gao received his BS from Shandong University in 2007, and entered the PhD program in Tsinghua University in 2007 under the direction of Dr. Yigong Shi. His research is the structural study of a new class of amino acid transporter, integral membrane proteins. He solved the crystal structure of the apoform and a substrate bound form. He is now working on determining the structure in different configurations by using point mutants and is expected to make new progress before his graduation.

Citation: Mr. Gao’s accomplishments are very impressive. He demonstrated good understanding about protein-structure function relationship and is quite knowledgeable about membrane proteins. He has begun to show an interest in developing independent research ideas of his own. He is clearly a strong student with the ability to think and work independently. He made significant new discoveries during his studies and has a broad knowledge of the field in general. Overall, the committee finds him to be a very promising young scientist.

This prize is sponsored by Morningside Foundation.

Tiannan Guo

Background: Mr. Guo received his medical training in a 7-year program in Tongji Medical School in Wuhan, and graduated in 2006. After doing research in the last 2 years in college, he decided to pursue a research career rather than practicing medicine. He went to Singapore to do research and later entered the graduate program of Nanyang Technological University under the direction of Dr. Siu Kwan Sze. He is interested in proteomics and systems biology. One of his current research topics is on MET oncogene addiction of cancer cells and its relation with metabolism in the mitochondria.

Citation: He demonstrated a mature thinking about his research topic and recognized important issues pertinent to his research. Although trained in medicine, he is taking on the challenge of broadening his experience in chemistry, physics and computer programming. He plans to obtain postdoctoral training in bioinformatics and statistics because he believes that these are the new challenges once huge amounts of data are acquired. Although his publications are not in high profile journals and are mostly about methodologies, he is quite productive. He hopes to use systems biology approaches in cancer therapy. The committee believes that he is likely to make important contributions in this new area of biomedical sciences.

This prize is sponsored by Novartis.

RWMF members at the award ceremony for the 2011 Ray Wu Prize