Three members of the Biophysical Society of China (BSC) received the 2021 and 2022 Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Science and Technology Award on Feb 17 in Beijing. They were among a total of 112 scientists that won the honor.

The foundation is a non-government organization established in 1994 by Hong Kong financiers including Ho Sin-hang, Leung Kau-kui, Ho Tim and Lee Quo-Wei. It aims to reward outstanding Chinese scientists and serve China’s modernization. Over the past 29 years, the honor has been bestowed upon 1,526 scientists. The foundation has played a positive role in stimulating the vitality of China's scientific and technological development and cultivating talents for independent innovation.

Profiles of award winners

Yan Xiyun, winner of the 2021 Ho Leung Ho Lee Science and Technology Progress Award in biology, is an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a research fellow at the Institute of Biophysics of the CAS and the honorary president of the BSC Nanozyme Academic Subgroup.

Yan has been engaged in tumor immunology and discovered new targets and strategies for precise treatment of tumors. She has also studied the catalytic mechanisms and controllable preparations of nanozyme and expanded its applications in disease diagnosis, infectious disease monitoring and sewage treatment.

Liu Zhijie, an academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, professor at ShanghaiTech University and executive director of the iHuman Institute at ShanghaiTech University, won the 2022 Science and Technology Progress Award in life sciences. Also vice-president of the BSC, Liu studied the molecular mechanisms of cell transduction using structural biology and biological imaging methods. Currently, he focuses on structural and functional research of G protein-coupled receptors related to mental disorders, metabolic disorders, tumors and immune-related diseases, as well as drug design of related targets.

Song Baoliang is a CAS academician, professor at Wuhan University (WHU), dean of the College of Life Sciences at WHU and vice-president of the BSC Metabolic Biology Academic Subgroup. A winner of the 2022 Science and Technology Progress Award in life sciences, Song has been committed to research on cholesterol metabolism and has initiated the molecular pathway of cholesterol absorption in the small intestine. He has revealed a cholesterol synthesis regulation pathway and discovered new means of intracellular cholesterol transport. His studies provide new insights into and a theoretical basis for the research and development of lipid-lowering drugs.