AsianScientist (Apr. 4, 2016) – The L’Oréal Foundation and UNESCO have awarded five exceptional laureates with the 2016 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards, in the field of Life Sciences. Professor Chen Hualan, from the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has the honor of being the only representative from the Asia Pacific Region. She is also the fifth scientist from China to receive this award.
Nominated by more than 2,600 leading scientists, 2016’s five laureates were selected by an independent and international jury of 13 prominent scientists in the international scientific community.
Chen has been recognized for her outstanding research in the field of biology of the bird flu virus, as well as her contribution to the development and use of effective vaccines for avian influenza control.
Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim from the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, was the Africa and Arab States winner for her contributions to the prevention and treatment of HIV and associated infections. The Latin America winner was Professor Andrea Gamarnik, from the Molecular Virology Laboratory, Fundación Instituto Leloir in Argentina. She works on how mosquito-borne viruses such as dengue reproduce and cause human diseases.
Other 2016 laureates include Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier, director of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Germany, and Professor Jennifer Doudna from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California in the US, for their discovery of a versatile DNA editing technique called CRIPSR/Cas9.
The For Women in Science Awards Program was jointly initiated by the L’Oréal Foundation and UNESCO in 1998. Each year, it awards five leading female scientists, one from each continent—Africa & the Arab States, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America—for their contribution in science and to help further their research.
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Source: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Photo: For Women in Science.
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