The 2019 Shanghai Science and Technology Awards honored 308 scientific breakthroughs and distinguished researchers, according to the awards ceremony held at Shanghai Exhibition Center on Tuesday morning.  

Previously, top individual prizes and prizes for outstanding young scientists were granted every two years. Starting from the 2019 awards, they became annual honors.

Bioengineer Chen Yazhu and chemical expert Tian He were honored with top individual prizes for their great contributions and meritorious service.

Chen, 84, a pioneer of non-invasive medical devices in China, helped the country ditch pricey imports and allowed millions of Chinese patients to receive advanced, safe and inexpensive treatment.

“The greatest value of my life is to let more people live a healthy life,” Chen said.

In China during the 1980s, patients with kidney stones had to have surgery to remove them. While patients in Western countries started to receive extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL), a nonsurgical technique to use shock waves to smash stones into fragments, domestic hospitals just couldn’t afford imported ESWL equipment.

Chen decided to design China’s own ESWL device, and she did exactly that. Much cheaper than imports, the home-grown devices have been promoted across the country, benefiting millions of patients including her own son.

She has also developed a radio frequency hyperthermia system for enlarged prostate patients and new-generation ultrasound equipment such as MRI-PHIFU and US-PHIFU.

The other top prize winner, Tian’s research on new smart materials using dynamic molecular assembly is globally recognized.

He has joined with Dutch chemist and Nobel laureate Bernard Lucas Feringa to establish the Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Center at the East China University of Science and Technology to focus on smart molecular engineering.  

Ten people ranging from 35 to 46 years old were honored as young outstanding scientists.

Among them, engineer Wu Jiangbin provided technological support for super-tall buildings such as Shanghai Tower, and biologist Xu Chenqi found a new way to break the defense mechanisms of malignant tumor cells, providing a possible new way to fight cancer.

Of the winning projects, achievements in cutting-edge technologies and fields are springing up, demonstrating the city’s dynamic innovation and progress to become a global innovation center, according to the Shanghai Science and Technology Awards Center.

Energy and environmental technology became the biggest winner, scooping up 20.41 percent of all awards. Biomedicine and pharmaceutical technology narrowly lost the title by garnering 19.05 percent, followed by information technology (11.22 percent) and new materials (7.82 percent).

They include doctor Xu Wendong’s innovative approach to repairing the arm function of paralyzed patients.

Stroke and other severe brain trauma can cause limb paralysis. While other doctors were trying to repair the damaged brain hemisphere, Xu, vice president of Huashan Hospital, took an unconventional approach. He connected the nerves of a paralyzed arm to the healthy brain hemisphere to help regain function.

Shen Baifei, a researcher from the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, proposed a new laser light pressure-driven ion acceleration scheme and started research on a new radiation field driven by super intense lasers.

His researches have provided technological support to the design of the Shanghai Superintense-Ultrafast Lasers Facility. Also, his researches are believed to have great potential in cancer therapy, proton imaging and nuclear fusion.

Source: SHINE| 2020-05-09 19:05|Editor: tianshengjie