Two scientists win prize at high-level forum in SW China

Two scientists have won the inaugural Tengchong Science Award during a high-level scientific forum in southwest China's Yunnan Province, with each receiving 10 million yuan (about $1.4 million) in prize money on Friday.

One prize winner was Dennis Lo, a renowned molecular biologist from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who is dubbed the "father of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT)."

The other recipient was Chinese-American Zhang Feng from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was awarded for his contributions to CRISPR-Cas genome editing technologies.

"I feel very excited. It's a great honor to be chosen to be the inaugural recipient of this prestigious award," Lo told CGTN.

In 1997, Lo revolutionarily discovered fetal DNA in maternal blood, and his NIPT approach has been widely adopted in different countries for screening of Down's syndrome. In 2022, he was awarded the Lasker∼DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, a top biomedical science prize.

"We have actually extended this technology to technologies which can detect dozens of types of cancer, and also tell us where the cancer is. So hopefully, we can reduce the mortality of those many cancers, ultimately contributing to human health," Lo revealed.

Lo's latest honor comes just one week after he was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was already an academician at several international academies, including America's National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society.

"I think that I'm a Chinese scientist, and so winning an academy membership in my own country meant a lot to me and will allow me to further contribute to the advancement of science and technology in China," said Lo.

This year's Tengchong Scientists Forum is only the second edition of the event. Under the theme "science and green development," it brings together hundreds of leading scientists from a wide range of research areas and entrepreneurs.

The three-day event features some 10 forums, covering ecological protection, modern agriculture, biomedicine, digital technologies, and exchanges between China and neighboring Southeast Asian countries.

As China is stepping up efforts for comprehensive high-quality development, the organizers hope that the event will help to facilitate scientific innovation as strategic support for the blueprint.

Many participants also believe that this is a great opportunity to promote international scientific cooperation, at a time when the world faces multiple common challenges in areas such as the environment, food and health.

"It's quite possible that I will meet someone here who has another idea for where it is beneficial to collaborate," said Marcel Holyoak, professor at the University of California.

"I believe that collaborations with China and the rest of the world are continuing to expand. Science in general, around the world, is becoming more international. And China is a big part of that," he added.

Liu Chunming is an agricultural scientist at Peking University. He brought his latest research achievement, a new variety of rice, to the event.

"We want to bring people together to communicate, to discuss ideas for future development," Liu told CGTN. "I will be chairing the session on advanced agriculture. We're going to discuss how to make agriculture better for our farmers, for our consumers and for our industry."

Sitting at the border with Myanmar, the city of Tengchong is known for its natural and tourism resources. It is also hoped that the annual event can be a stimulus for its high-quality development.

"The genetic resources here are amazing. I think there are many areas which we can explore here," said Lo. "Having this prestigious award will also help people to further focus. It's almost like when we think about the Nobel Prize, we will think about Stockholm. And hopefully when we think of science here, we will think about Tengchong."

A series of agreements on investment were also signed at the forum.