Five researchers have been named winners of the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research for 2017 on Tuesday, for the creation of a remarkable gene editing system. 

Among the five, Zhang Feng from America, a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and an associate professor in the Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is considered the second Chinese scientist who won this prize after Chinese American Professor Xie Xiaoliang from Peking University announced as recipient in 2015.

Named CRISPR-Cas9, the gene editing technology is used for modifying genes to block the HIV virus, and in an attempt to change the DNA of mosquitos that carry the Zika virus so that it cannot be passed to humans, said the prize announcement.

Following Zhang's landmark demonstration that CRISPR-Cas9 could be harnessed for mammalian genome editing, he and his colleagues have successfully reined two additional systems of CRISPR, a DNA sequence found in the immune system of simple bacterial organisms: CRISPR-Cpf1, which could allow simpler and more precise genome engineering; and CRISPR-Cas13a, a new RNA-targeting system, which Zhang's team has adapted for use in rapid diagnostics, the prize announcement said. 

The prize announcement claimed, "CRISPR-Cas9 has revolutionized biological research in tens of thousands of laboratories worldwide. Its potential future applications include the possible ability to cure genetic defects such as muscular dystrophy, eradicate cancer."

The annual Albany Medical Center Prize has been held since 2001. The 500,000-US-dollar award is given to scientists whose works are seen as altering the course of medical research. It is one of the largest prizes in medicine and science in the US. 

As past recipients of the award include eight Nobel Laureates, the Albany Medical Center Prize winners are seen as likely candidates for the Nobel Prize the same year.

Fellow recipients of Zhang are Emmanuelle Charpentier of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany, Jennifer Doudna of University of California, Berkeley, Luciano Marraffini of The Rockefeller University, New York City, and Francisco J.M. Mojica of University of Alicante, Spain.