Four members of the Biophysical Society of China (BSC) were among the 50 awardees of the Fourth Xplorer Prize, according to the list released on Sept 15. Cheng Gong and Xue Tian won the medical sciences prize, and Xiao Bailong and Zhou Dawang won the life sciences award.

The Xplorer Prize was founded in 2018 by 14 renowned scientists including Chen-Ning Franklin Yang, the Chinese-American Nobel laureate; Rao Yi, chair professor of Peking University; Shi Yigong, Pan Jianwei and Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); as well as Ma Huateng, initiator of the Tencent Foundation.

The prize encourages young scientists to research unexplored scientific areas and open up a sustainable mechanism to support research talents.

Profiles of winners

Cheng Gong

Professor, Tsinghua University

Vice-president, Infection and Immunization Academic Subgroup, BSC

Cheng has been engaged in the study of the pathogenesis of arboviral infectious diseases and relevant vaccine development. He has published more than 40 research papers in prestigious international journals. His research results have laid solid foundations to key mosquito-borne virus prevention and control, promoted the development and improvement of the conceptual system of virulent mosquito-borne viral infectious diseases, and facilitated the development of novel medicines and vaccines.

Xue Tian

Professor, University of Science and Technology of China

Executive council member, BSC

Xue’s research fields include the understanding of physiological characteristics and the signaling mechanisms of light perception, especially the photo-transduction mechanism of ipRGCs. He also conducts in-depth studies on light-modulated physiological functions, the neural circuits of non-image-forming vision, as well as the application of gene editing, stem cell technology and new nanomaterials in the treatment of retinal photoreceptor degeneration using large animal models.

Xiao Bailong

Professor, Tsinghua University

Xiao has studied the dynamic mechano-gating mechanism and regulation system of Piezo channels and their biophysical property-based physiological and pathophysiological roles. He has developed drugs and technologies targeting Piezo channels and identified novel mechano-gated ion channels and their regulatory proteins.

Zhou Dawang

Professor, Xiamen University

Council member, BSC

Zhou has been engaged in the study of the biological functions and regulatory mechanism of Hippo pathway. He has also done research on its pathogenesis of diseases such as immune disorders and cancers caused by an uncontrolled Hippo pathway and targeted intervention strategies against them. His research focused on the repair and regeneration of damaged tissues and organ size regulation.