President Rao Zihe and Vice-President Xu Tao of the Biophysical Society of China (BSC) were elected as members of the 13th National People's Congress Standing Committee on March 14.

Rao Zihe (L), president of BSC awards the certificate of Bei Shizhang International Award. [Photo/bsc.org.cn]

Rao Zihe, is a member of the Presidium of the Academic Division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a professor with Tsinghua University, former president of Nankai University, and former director of the Institute of Biophysics, CAS.

He has been engaged in research on pathogens of recurrent infectious diseases and innovative drugs for years, making breakthroughs in the fields of HIV assembly and release, anti-SARS drugs, and small RNA and ELISA Kits.

Rao has won many distinguished scientific awards including the Tan Kah Kee Science Award and Trieste Science Prize from the World Academy of Sciences. Since 2003, he has been an academician of CAS, a fellow at the World Academy of Sciences, a professor with Hertford College, Oxford, a member of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, a corresponding fellow at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and as an honorary doctor of Glasgow University and Hong Kong Baptist University. He also served as a member of the 7th and 8th Standing Committee of the China Science and Technology Association, as first rotating president of the Alliance of Life Science Societies, CAST, and as president of the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) from 2014-2017. 

Xu Tao (L) and Rao Zihe (R) pose for a photograph. [Photo/bsc.org.cn]

Xu Tao, is an academician of CAS, a member of the Institute of Biophysics, CAS, and vice-president of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Mainly engaged in research on molecular mechanisms of diabetes and imaging techniques with super-resolution microscopy, Xu has been awarded the Chinese youth five four medal, the second prize of the Natural Science Award, and Tan Jiazhen Life Sciences Innovation Award.

He was also honored as a Young Affiliate of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).