Professor Xuetao Cao Won the TKK Science Award for 2016
Source：CSI
2016-06-03
Prof. Xuetao Cao, Secretary-General of Chinese Society for Immunology (CSI) and President of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS), won the TKK Science Award in Life Sciences for his innovative work on “Dendritic cell-based immune regulation and immunotherapy: From basic to clinical”.
One of fundamental scientific questions of immunology is how to recognize and eliminate pathogens effectively and maintain homeostasis simultaneously. Dendritic cell (DC) is the main immune cell that performs basic immune functions such as immune recognition and immune response. Prof. Xuetao Cao and his colleagues have been doing the systemic and intensive research of the biological characteristics, immune functions and underlying mechanisms of DC. They discovered novel immune molecules with independent intellectual property rights, and studied new pathway and mechanism of immune response; identified new DC subsets and studied their functions; analyzed mechanisms of how DC and mononuclear macrophage selectively recognize pathogens and subsequently initiate innate immune response. Based on these research achievements, DC tumor vaccine has been applied to treat late phase metastatic tumor patients and passed phase II clinical trial, approved by China Food and Drug Administration. The trial has lead to quite exciting treatment results, and currently has been under phase III clinical trial. Furthermore, using DC and macrophage as cell model, they studied the functions and related mechanism of epigenetic modification in the occurrence and extinction of immune response and inflammation, with which new targets and strategies of anti-inflammation treatment were proposed.
Formerly known as the TKK Award, the prestigious science prize was established in 1988 in honor of Mr. Tan Kah Kee (1874-1961), a well-known overseas Chinese, who contributed to science and education in China. In 2003, the TKK Science Award established. The TKK Young Scientist Award was established in 2010 and honors scientists under 40 years old. So far, 28 great scientists have been rewarded of “TKK Science Award”, and 14 young scientists have been rewarded of “TKK Young Scientist Award”.
The award ceremony was held at the 18th General Assembly of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing on June 1. When receiving the award, Prof. Cao said: “TKK Science Award is a hugely influential award for basic science researchers. I am very excited and honored to receive it, and at the same time I am also feeling the urge and further challenge, which will be a new beginning of my work.”
One of fundamental scientific questions of immunology is how to recognize and eliminate pathogens effectively and maintain homeostasis simultaneously. Dendritic cell (DC) is the main immune cell that performs basic immune functions such as immune recognition and immune response. Prof. Xuetao Cao and his colleagues have been doing the systemic and intensive research of the biological characteristics, immune functions and underlying mechanisms of DC. They discovered novel immune molecules with independent intellectual property rights, and studied new pathway and mechanism of immune response; identified new DC subsets and studied their functions; analyzed mechanisms of how DC and mononuclear macrophage selectively recognize pathogens and subsequently initiate innate immune response. Based on these research achievements, DC tumor vaccine has been applied to treat late phase metastatic tumor patients and passed phase II clinical trial, approved by China Food and Drug Administration. The trial has lead to quite exciting treatment results, and currently has been under phase III clinical trial. Furthermore, using DC and macrophage as cell model, they studied the functions and related mechanism of epigenetic modification in the occurrence and extinction of immune response and inflammation, with which new targets and strategies of anti-inflammation treatment were proposed.
Formerly known as the TKK Award, the prestigious science prize was established in 1988 in honor of Mr. Tan Kah Kee (1874-1961), a well-known overseas Chinese, who contributed to science and education in China. In 2003, the TKK Science Award established. The TKK Young Scientist Award was established in 2010 and honors scientists under 40 years old. So far, 28 great scientists have been rewarded of “TKK Science Award”, and 14 young scientists have been rewarded of “TKK Young Scientist Award”.
The award ceremony was held at the 18th General Assembly of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing on June 1. When receiving the award, Prof. Cao said: “TKK Science Award is a hugely influential award for basic science researchers. I am very excited and honored to receive it, and at the same time I am also feeling the urge and further challenge, which will be a new beginning of my work.”
