Academia Sinica head wins top UK honor

2015-05-08

The president of Taipei City-based Academia Sinica was named May 6 winner of the 2015 Robert Robinson Award for contributions to the advancement of organic chemistry.

Wong Chi-huey is recognized for the “development of chemical and enzymatic synthesis methods to elucidate the roles of carbohydrates in biology and create new opportunities in medicine,” according to award organizer London-based Royal Society of Chemistry.

Serving as head of the ROC’s most prestigious research organization since 2006, Wong is a highly cited scientist with more than 700 academic papers and 100 patents. He is also the first scholar in the world to develop chemoenzymatic methods for the practical synthesis of oligosaccharides and glycoproteins.

Wong, who will deliver lectures at four U.K. universities over the next year as part of his obligations under the award, is widely celebrated for inventing the first and only automatic method for synthesizing oligosaccharides.

According to the AS, Wong’s team has made several breakthroughs in glycosciences, including the synthesis of cancer vaccines, sugar chips and advances in anti-viral and anti-bacteria research.

In addition to his AS academician membership, Wong belongs to many of the world’s most prestigious research organizations, including American Academy of Arts and Science, U.S. National Academy of Sciences and World Academy of Sciences.

Prior to his latest honor, Wong won U.S. Presidential Young Investigator Award in Chemistry in 1986, Roy Whistler Award of the International Carbohydrate Organization in 1994, U.S. Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award in 2000, Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2014, as well as three American Chemical Society awards in 1999, 2005 and 2012.

First presented in 1964, RRA was created in memory of Robert Robinson, the British organic chemist who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1947. It honors contributions to the field from researchers over the age of 55.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=230106&ctNode=413)