NCKU chair professor receives Y. Z. Hsu Scientific Award
Tainan, Taiwan, May 29, 2014
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Chair Professor Dr. Ming-Chi Chang has been given the Y.Z. Hsu Scientific Award in the bio-medical category during the announcement of award winners of the 6th Y. Z. Hsu Scientific Award.
The award recognized Dr. Chang’s great achievements in the development of anti-Interleukin-20 (IL-20) monoclonal antibody that treats osteoporosis, which is also marked Taiwan’s record-breaking technology transfer deal to a Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk.
Set up by the Far Eastern Y.Z. Hsu Science and Technology Memorial Foundation, the biennial Y.Z. Hsu Scientific Award aims to encourage interactions between the industry and academia, as well as enhance the application of science and technology.
The award targets products or technology developed by researchers at domestic universities, incubation centers or research institutions, rewarding specifically those who have already applied for patents.
The advisory committee will then pick a winner who fulfills a specific theme based on each category, including nano science and technology, communication and optoelectronics, bio-medical technology and green technology.
Dr. Chang’s excellent performance in academic research has brought her numerous awards, including Ho Chin-Tui Award, the Wang Ming-Ning Award which is the most prestigious award in Taiwan’s medical field and 2013 Taiwan BIO Innovation of the Year Award.
Dr. Chang has been committed to developing new medical drugs in the long term with outstanding achievements. Her research interests are on immune disorders such as autoimmunity, osteoporosis and cancers, as well as the development of new medical drug.
Dr. Chang attributes her current success to her working experience in United States of America as well as the research environment and excellent research teams provided to her by NCKU, thus enabling her to practice and experiment her innovative ideas.
Besides, Dr. Chang revealed her research direction was set based on the creating benefits for patients and market needs, while expressing her gratitude to her highly flexible students who have in turn allowed her to continuously accept challenges and meet targets.
After graduating from University of Texas Southwestern Medical School with a postdoctoral degree in immunology, Dr. Chang worked for two US-based biotechnology firms Genetech and Amgen in developing new medical drugs. In 1999, Dr. Chang returned to NCKU Hospital to take on the position of professor.
Other than nurturing talents in biotechnology field, Dr. Chang also actively pursues research on new medical drug development, resulting in approximately 30 new medical drug patents obtained in the USA and other countries in the world.
As Dr. Chang’s research results show that IL-20 is an indispensable factor of bone cell differentiation, she found that high concentration of IL-20 in serums of patients with osteoporosis can cause bone loss.
Hence, she took a step further to develop antibodies that inhibit IL-20 and proved its effect of treating osteoporosis on mice.
The results of this research were published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine in September 2011, thus attracted great attention from the international academia and biotechnology firms.
The chief editor of the journal Nature Reviews Rheumatology interviewed Dr. Chang, in which the interview was published in the special column in the September 2011 issue. Her innovative discovery also became the cover story of the September 2011 4th edition of Science-Business eXchange journal.
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National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Chair Professor Dr. Ming-Chi Chang has been given the Y.Z. Hsu Scientific Award in the bio-medical category during the announcement of award winners of the 6th Y. Z. Hsu Scientific Award.
The award recognized Dr. Chang’s great achievements in the development of anti-Interleukin-20 (IL-20) monoclonal antibody that treats osteoporosis, which is also marked Taiwan’s record-breaking technology transfer deal to a Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk.
Set up by the Far Eastern Y.Z. Hsu Science and Technology Memorial Foundation, the biennial Y.Z. Hsu Scientific Award aims to encourage interactions between the industry and academia, as well as enhance the application of science and technology.
The award targets products or technology developed by researchers at domestic universities, incubation centers or research institutions, rewarding specifically those who have already applied for patents.
The advisory committee will then pick a winner who fulfills a specific theme based on each category, including nano science and technology, communication and optoelectronics, bio-medical technology and green technology.
Dr. Chang’s excellent performance in academic research has brought her numerous awards, including Ho Chin-Tui Award, the Wang Ming-Ning Award which is the most prestigious award in Taiwan’s medical field and 2013 Taiwan BIO Innovation of the Year Award.
Dr. Chang has been committed to developing new medical drugs in the long term with outstanding achievements. Her research interests are on immune disorders such as autoimmunity, osteoporosis and cancers, as well as the development of new medical drug.
Dr. Chang attributes her current success to her working experience in United States of America as well as the research environment and excellent research teams provided to her by NCKU, thus enabling her to practice and experiment her innovative ideas.
Besides, Dr. Chang revealed her research direction was set based on the creating benefits for patients and market needs, while expressing her gratitude to her highly flexible students who have in turn allowed her to continuously accept challenges and meet targets.
After graduating from University of Texas Southwestern Medical School with a postdoctoral degree in immunology, Dr. Chang worked for two US-based biotechnology firms Genetech and Amgen in developing new medical drugs. In 1999, Dr. Chang returned to NCKU Hospital to take on the position of professor.
Other than nurturing talents in biotechnology field, Dr. Chang also actively pursues research on new medical drug development, resulting in approximately 30 new medical drug patents obtained in the USA and other countries in the world.
As Dr. Chang’s research results show that IL-20 is an indispensable factor of bone cell differentiation, she found that high concentration of IL-20 in serums of patients with osteoporosis can cause bone loss.
Hence, she took a step further to develop antibodies that inhibit IL-20 and proved its effect of treating osteoporosis on mice.
The results of this research were published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine in September 2011, thus attracted great attention from the international academia and biotechnology firms.
The chief editor of the journal Nature Reviews Rheumatology interviewed Dr. Chang, in which the interview was published in the special column in the September 2011 issue. Her innovative discovery also became the cover story of the September 2011 4th edition of Science-Business eXchange journal.
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