On September 25th, 2020, Professor Huang Zhiwei from HIT's Schoolof Life Science and Technology, whose research on dissecting the molecular mechanisms involved in biological adaptive immune system, won the 2nd XPLORER PRIZE-LIFE SCIENCES and was encouraged to continue his research in this field to reveal the basic scientific laws of how the biological adaptive immune system recognizes self and non-self antigens and initiate an immune response.
The "XPLORER PRIZE", initiated in 2018 by Ma Huateng, Chairman and CEO of Tencent, and 14 well-known scientists, is aiming at awarding for young scientists aged 45 and under who are working full-time in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao in nine fields of fundamental science and frontier technologies.
Professor Huang Zhiwei has been engaged in research on dissecting the molecular mechanism of the biological adaptive immune system. He and his group have unveiled the assembly of human adaptive immune T-cell receptor apparatus, the structural basis of signal transduction, the mechanism of the human immune system being inhibited by HIV infection factors, and the work of the prokaryotic adaptive immune system and its activity regulation mechanism. A series of achievements have been published in top journals including Nature (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019), Nature Structure & Molecular Biology, Cell Research, PNAs, STTT, etc.
According to the“XPLORER PRIZE”Management Committee, the 2020 2nd“XPLORER PRIZE”received valid application materials from 1,200 applicants. Through preliminary review, review and final defense, 50 applicants were selected as winners. The proportion of winners to applicants is 1:25. The organizer invited over 800 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineeringto participate in the review process.