Tang Prize winners for biopharmaceutical science, sustainable development announced
2018/06/20
The 2018 Tang Prize winners in the sustainable development and biopharmaceutical science categories were announced June 18 and 19, respectively, with James E. Hansen and Veerabhadran Ramanathan sharing the former award for their revolutionary climate change research and Brian J. Druker, Tony Hunter and John Mendelsohn picking up the latter for breakthroughs in targeted cancer therapies.
Hansen, former director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is best known for his groundbreaking work in climatology and 1988 televised U.S. congressional testimony, which is credited with fostering widespread awareness of global warming. He developed one of the first 3-D climate models and is a pioneer in compiling and analyzing worldwide temperature records.
A professor in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, Ramanathan is recognized for his research on the sources of global warming such as industrial chemical compounds and refrigerants. His 1975 finding that chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, are powerful drivers of the greenhouse effect was pivotal in the negotiation of the Montreal Protocol banning their use 12 years later.
In the biopharmaceutical science category, Druker, director of Oregon Health Sciences University Knight Cancer Institute, is celebrated for developing an oral pharmaceutical called imatinib, branded as Gleevec, for chronic myeloid leukemia, previously treated through bone marrow transplant. The drug raised patient survival rates from 50 to 90 percent and is considered one of the most successful targeted cancer therapy medications.
Hunter, a professor at California-based Salk Institute for Biological Studies, laid the foundations for the field of targeted cancer therapies with his 1979 discovery of how enzymes called tyrosine kinases can cause the disease. This insight has inspired decades of research into inhibitors targeting the enzyme.
Former president of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Mendelsohn is recognized as a leader in related studies and therapies, and specifically those targeting epidermal growth factor receptors. His work pioneered a new protocol called anti-receptor therapy, and led to the development of pharmaceuticals for colon, head and neck cancers.
The laureates will be honored at an award ceremony Sept. 21, while a series of forums and speeches highlighting their work and achievements will be staged during Tang Prize Week Sept. 19-27. Winners for Sinology and rule of law will be announced June 20 and 21, respectively.
Established by Taiwan entrepreneur Samuel Yin in 2012 and first conferred two years later, the biennial prize takes its name from the Tang dynasty (618-907), a period considered the peak of ancient Chinese civilization characterized by robust international exchanges and cultural activities. According to the Tang Prize Foundation, recipients in each category receive or share a cash prize of NT$40 million (US$1.32 million), as well as a research grant of up to NT$10 million.
Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=10&post=136403)
