Tu Youyou was inspired by ancient Chinese medicine books. Through the improvement of the extraction method, she found for the first time that Artemisia annua extract has effective components to inhibit plasmodium. Her discovery played a key role in the development of a new antimalarial drug artemisinin. Because this discovery saved millions of lives around the world, Tu Youyou won the Lasker Prize, an important prize in the field of medical science this year.
Introduction: Tu Youyou, born in 1930, is a pharmacist. He has been engaged in the research of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine for many years and has made remarkable achievements, leading the research team to discover and develop new antimalarial drug artemisinin. On September 20,11won the lasker clinical medical research award.
Remarks: "In the process of artemisinin discovery, ancient literature inspired me at the most critical moment of research. I believe that efforts to develop traditional medicine will definitely bring more therapeutic drugs to the world. "
Text/Yan Qing
20 1 1 new york, September 23rd. This year's Lasker Prize ceremony was arranged at a cocktail party. In this relaxed western social occasion, Tu Youyou's modesty is quite elegant. Holding the trophy, let the reporter take a photo with a smile, and then deliver the acceptance speech according to the speech. "In the process of artemisinin discovery, ancient literature inspired me at the most critical moment of research." This 80-year-old female scientist has a clear voice and a strong Jiangsu and Zhejiang accent. "I believe that efforts to develop traditional medicine will definitely bring more therapeutic drugs to the world."
Inspired by 1600 years ago, Tu Youyou's initial discovery made artemisinin a first-line antimalarial drug recommended by the World Health Organization, saving millions of lives around the world, and the Lasker Foundation awarded her a prize of 250,000 US dollars.
silent
As a 66-year-old science prize, Lasker Prize is not very famous in China. However, the term "Nobel Prize weathervane" can easily arouse people's interest. Understandably, after the Lasker Prize was awarded, Tu Youyou's name became a household name in China, and people were full of expectations for this "China person closest to the Nobel Prize". Later, she was described as "a China native who missed the Nobel Prize".
Tu Youyou seems to be ready for her sudden fame, and she has maintained an unusually tenacious resistance to the intense public attention that followed. After new york accepted the prize, she kept silent to the media. The only appearance was at the "20 1 1 scientific and technological work conference" held by her unit on October 5. This meeting, which sounds ordinary, actually has only one theme-remembering Tu Youyou. At the meeting, she was awarded the "Outstanding Contribution Award of Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine", and the artemisinin research team she led was awarded 6.5438+0 million yuan.