HKUST president Nancy Ip wins UNESCO life sciences award
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology president Nancy Ip has received the UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Life Sciences in Paris for her neuroscience research on Alzheimer's disease, including biomarkers, blood tests and gene therapy.
Nancy Ip, president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and a Chinese Academy of Sciences academician, has been awarded the UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Life Sciences for her outstanding contributions to neuroscience. She is the sixth Chinese scientist to win the prize since it was established in 2008.
The award ceremony was held on Friday at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris. UNESCO said Ip has achieved significant results in research on brain function and Alzheimer's disease, identifying new biomarkers and genetic risk factors, developing blood-testing technology that facilitates early diagnosis and disease monitoring, and carrying out pioneering work in gene therapy for neurodegenerative diseases.
In an interview with Xinhua News Agency, Ip said many scientific breakthroughs depend on collaboration, especially interdisciplinary cooperation. She called for strengthening cross-disciplinary, inter-university and international research collaboration, adding that such efforts would play an important role in drug development for diseases such as Alzheimer's.
