北师大才子赢得100万美元奖金

科技时报报道，香港“邵逸夫奖”（Shaw Prize）由香港邵氏电影公司的创办人邵逸夫提供资助，于２００２年１１月设立，旨在表彰在学术研究或应用领域取得突破性成果，并对人类生活产生深远影响的科学家。该奖项每年颁奖一次，每项奖金１００万美元，比诺贝尔奖还要高。它设有三个奖项，分别为天文学、生命科学与医学、数学科学。
2004年首届邵逸夫奖的天文学奖得主为美国普林斯顿大学的詹姆斯·皮布尔斯教授，他对宇宙学的研究成果卓著。生命科学与医学2004年设有两个奖，第一个奖的一半由美国史丹福大学的史丹利·科恩教授和加州大学旧金山分校的赫伯特·布瓦耶教授平分，他们以发现脱氧核糖核酸和无性繁殖技术而闻名于世；另一半则授予加州大学旧金山分校的简悦威，这位生在香港、毕业于香港大学的教授发现了脱氧核糖核酸的多态性，该发现对遗传学影响深远。第二个奖则颁发给英国牛津大学医学院的理查·多尔爵士，以表彰他在研究癌病流行学方面的突出贡献。陈省身获得数学科学奖，以表彰他在微分几何领域的成就及在过去６０年对数学发展的贡献。
2005年天文学奖的得主由美国柏克莱大学的杰弗里.马西教授（Professor GeoffreyMarcy）和瑞士日内瓦大学的米歇尔.麦耶教授（Professor Michel Mayor）共同获得。他们发现了太阳系以外的一个恒星的行星，从而引导出对行星产生的新认识。生命科学与医学奖的得主是英国剑桥大学细胞信讯荣誉教授迈克尔.贝里奇爵士（Professor Sir MichaelBerridge）,为了表彰他发现调控细胞运作中钙的关键作用。美国普林斯顿大学的安德鲁.维尔斯教授（Professor Andrew John Wiles）证明费马最后定理，获得数学科学奖。
2006年邵逸夫奖公布获奖名单，一共有6人获奖，其中包括2名华人王晓东及吴文俊。邵逸夫生命科学与医学奖由43岁的美德州大学西南医学中心终身教授王晓东获得，以表彰他发现细胞按程序凋亡的生物化学基础，而细胞按程序凋亡是平衡细胞生成和防止癌的关键步骤。邵逸夫数学科学奖则分别由美国布朗大学教授大卫·曼福德及中国科学院院士吴文俊获得，以分别表彰对图案学与视觉学及数学的机器证明法的贡献。天文奖则由美国加州大学伯克莱分校索尔·普密特教授、美国巴尔的摩太空望远镜研究所亚当·利斯教授和澳大利亚国立大学布莱·施米兹教授三人获得，以表彰他们在发现宇宙膨胀的速度在增加，显示即使没有物质与任何辐射，空间的能量密度仍然大於零。
The Shaw Laureate in Life Science and Medicine 2006
"Dr. Wang was chosen because his work not only exposed a fundamental processin all animals, but also because it provides new directions for the treatmentof cancer," Dr. Brown said. "He figured out the balance between cells that areborn and cells that die. That balance is key - if too few cells are destroyed, you get cancer; if too many, you age. Dr. Wang‘s work has provided a keyinsight into how that balance is maintained."
mitochondria pathway是不是在all animals里对凋亡都那么重要还很难说。。。。。。
其次，对于cancer，apoptosis无论是在tumorigenesis还是tumorcherapy中有多大的作用，也很难说，虽然前者经典看法是很重要，不过现在体内数据还不多。
有那么几个，但不是很清楚，应该是之一，但重要性被夸大了，2000年weinberg的review里还是漏了很多mechanism。
后者，基本上没有多少MD会同意apoptosis在tumorcherapy中起重要作用。
我说的是，apoptosis虽然是个很普遍的现象，从yeast到human，但是不能把mitochondria在apoptosis中的作用等同于apoptosis的作用，caspase pathway只是apoptosis的机制之一，而mitochondria又只是caspase pathway之一。
王的工作对于tumor的重要显然是基于人们认为apoptosis在tumor中也“相当”重要。我要说的是，
apoptosis对tumor cell line的死亡很重要，但对tumor development和tumorcherapy却不见得。
其一，apoptosis在tumorigenesis中的作用并没有得到可靠的证据，更别说公认了，最多只能算默认罢了。去check一下CSL的stowe的工作，他主要是通过mouse model来研究apoptosis在tumorigenesis中的作用，从92年他postdoc第一篇用p53-/-mouse开展类似的工作开始，到现在他还在验证这个被默认的假说。事实上，这5，6年才开始流行用mouse model去探讨一下真正的发生机理是什么，
现在，sensecence，cell cycle， autophagy还有其它各种各样的机制都有报道，很多model里面apoptosis并不人们想象的那样重要。
其二，tumorcherapy，不要瞧不起MD，在这个方面，pHD基本都在灌水。MD观察到的现象是现在主要的治疗手段放疗导致的肿瘤细胞的死亡并不是apoptosis，可以check science paper关于这个的讨论，“DOES cancer THERAPY TRIGGER CELL SUICIDE?"
最后，关于apoptosis在tumor中的作用，我觉得，很多都是基于cell line的研究，推论到tumor上就成默认的了。。。。。。真正一看，没多少生工strong evidence。
http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/utsw/cda/dept37389/files/300086.html
DALLAS — June 21, 2006 — Dr. Xiaodong Wang, a professor of biochemistry atUT Southwestern Medical Center who discovered mechanisms responsible for celldeath, today was awarded the $1 million Shaw Prize in Life Science andMedicine.

Dr. Wang, 43, will receive the international award from the Hong Kong-basedShaw Prize Foundation "for his discovery of the biochemical basis ofprogrammed cell death, a vital process that balances cell birth and defendsagainst cancer," according to the award citation.
The Shaw Prize currently consists of three annual awards: the Prize inAstronomy, the Prize in Life Science and Medicine, and the Prize inMathematical Sciences. The 2006 prizes will be presented to recipients inSeptember at a ceremony in Hong Kong.
The prizes, first awarded in 2004 and sometimes referred to as the "NobelPrize of the East," honor individuals who have achieved significantbreakthroughs in academic and scientific research or application, and whosework has resulted in a positive and profound impact on mankind.
Dr. Wang, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at UT Southwesternand one of the most cited scientists of the last decade, has madegroundbreaking discoveries in the biochemistry of programmed cell death, orapoptosis. His findings have provided new directions for the treatment ofcancer, where natural cell death is prevented and cancer cells grow unchecked.
"I was very surprised and happy to learn I had won the Shaw Prize," Dr. Wangsaid. "UT Southwestern has everything to do with winning this award. Theresearch environment here, my mentors and especially my outstandingpostdoctoral students — they have as much to do with winning this honor as Ido."
The Shaw Prizes were established under the auspices of Sir Run Run Shaw, aHong Kong film producer and chairman of Television Broadcasts Limited （TVB）,the largest Chinese program producer in the world. The Shaw Prize isaccompanied by a medal displaying a portrait of Sir Run Run Shaw and theimprint of a Chinese phrase that translates as "Grasp the law of nature andmake use of it."
"This is an extraordinary, distinguished prize," said Dr. Steven McKnight,chairman of biochemistry at UT Southwestern. "Xiaodong Wang is a genuinescientific pioneer who has used hard-core biochemistry to resolve the pathwaycontrolling programmed cell death, a process that is liberally relevant tohuman disease, especially cancer."
Dr. Michael Brown, Nobel laureate and director of the Erik Jonsson Center forResearch in Molecular Genetics and Human Disease at UT Southwestern, said Dr.Wang was selected from among the most outstanding scientists from manycountries.
"Dr. Wang was chosen because his work not only exposed a fundamental processin all animals, but also because it provides new directions for the treatmentof cancer," Dr. Brown said. "He figured out the balance between cells that areborn and cells that die. That balance is key - if too few cells are destroyed, you get cancer; if too many, you age. Dr. Wang‘s work has provided a keyinsight into how that balance is maintained."
Dr. Kern Wildenthal, president of UT Southwestern, said the Shaw Prizeverifies Dr. Wang‘s place at the pinnacle of international biomedicalscientists.
"This honor recognizes Dr. Wang‘s status as one of the world‘s top researchers," Dr. Wildenthal said. "It also highlights UT Southwestern‘s continuingsuccess in attracting and nurturing many of the rising stars in biomedicalscience."
Dr. Wang‘s research centers on the biochemistry of cell death, a phenomenon inwhich cells activate a self-destruction program. As the body generates newcells, older cells undergo programmed cell suicide. In the case of cancercells, they are unable to carry out the self-destruct program, so they growuncontrollably.
Dr. Wang has discovered several proteins that play a key role in apoptosis,including cytochrome c. This protein was long known as an essential componentfor generating energy in the cell and maintaining life, but Dr. Wang showedthat it also is active in triggering apoptosis.
His continuing research could lead not only to treatments for cancer but alsoto therapies targeting the abnormal cells in neurological diseases, such asAlzheimer‘s and Parkinson‘s.
Originally from China, Dr. Wang received his undergraduate degree from BeijingNormal University before moving to the United States to pursue graduatestudies at UT Southwestern, where he earned a doctorate in biochemistry in1991. His postdoctoral research at UT Southwestern was with Dr. Brown andfellow Nobel laureate Dr. Joseph Goldstein, chairman of molecular genetics.
"His experiments as a postdoc with us helped determine the course of our labover the past 12 years," Dr. Brown said.
In 1995 Dr. Wang established his own laboratory as an assistant professor atEmory School of Medicine in Atlanta. In 1996 he returned to UT Southwesternand now holds the George L. MacGregor Distinguished Chair in BiomedicalScience.
Dr. Wang is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and received thatorganization‘s Award in Molecular Biology in 2004. Among his many honors, hehas received the Hackerman Award in Chemical Research from the WelchFoundation, the Paul Marks Prize from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering CancerCenter, the Eli Lilly Award from the American Chemical Society, the Schering-Plough Award from the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,and the Young Investigator Award from the Society of Chinese BiomedicalScientists in America.
The 2006 Shaw Prize in Mathematics will go jointly to David Mumford of BrownUniversity and Wu Wentsun of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at Beijing, whilethe Prize in Astronomy will be awarded jointly to Saul Perlmutter of theUniversity of California‘s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Adam Riess of theSpace Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and Brian Schmidt of the MountStromlo Observatory at the Australian National University in Canberra.