NCKU Chair Professor Jin-Ding Huang Conferred with the 18th Wang Ming-Ning Award
Tainan, TAIWAN, Dec. 23, 2008 --- The NCKU Chair Professor of Department of Pharmacology and the Chairman of the Institute of Biopharmaceutical Sciences of the NCKU Medicine College, Professor Jin-Ding Huang (黃金鼎) received the 18th Wang-Ming Ning (王民寧) Award for “His Outstanding Contribution to the National Health” at Grand Formosa Regent Taipei on December 19th and was granted with $1 Million New Taiwanese Dollars (NTD).
NCKU President Michael M.C. Lai praised Prof. Huang for his constant discoveries in medicine and his contribution to the national health and said that he really deserved this award.
Professor Huang’s research specialties focus on the discovery of individual variation of enzyme in different phenotype and genotype for drug metabolism. Professor Huang found that, to have the same efficacy, medicine prescribed to a typical Chinese is half in dosage than that to a Caucasian because of the variation of enzyme for drug metabolism. That is, ethnicity is a concern in the CYP2D6 variability. For example, the 34th amino acid of human enzyme CYP2D6 (Cytochrome P450 2D6), responsible for metabolism of some drugs, is serine in Chinese, in contrast to proline in Caucasian. On the other hand, the 486th amino acid of human enzyme CYP2D6 is threonine in a Chinese but serine in a Caucasian. This variation results in the lower activity of CYP2D6 in Chinese than in Caucasian. The amino acid sequence of CYP3A4, another major drug-metabolism enzyme, has many variations, but the variations cannot account for the phenotype and genotype variation. Therefore, the protein expression of CYP3A4 in human liver and small intestines is the key factor to different phenotype and genotype. The expression of CYP3A4 is determined by the pregnane X receptor (PXR), a nuclear receptor. Professor Huang also reported single nucleotide polymorphism in PXR and identified the molecular mechanism.
Professor Jin-Ding Huang obtained his PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry (renamed as Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences) from University of California in San Francisco. Professor Huang was a Visiting Professor in Dept. of Biopharmaceutical Sciences of University of Tokyo in 1997 as well as in Department of Pharmacy of University of Manchester in 1990. Professor Huang served as the Chairman of Institute of Clinical Pharmacy and the Chairman of Department of Pharmacology of NCKU. He was elected as a Fellow of American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists in 2004 as well as the Fellow of Japanese Society for the Study of Xenobiotics.
The Wang Ming-Ning Award was established by Mr. Wang Ming-Ning, founder of China Chemical & Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, in 1991 for his aspiration to improve the national health, promote the pharmaceutical technology and internationalize the pharmaceutical industry in Taiwan. This award only has two categories: “Outstanding Contribution to National Health” and “Excellent Thesis.” The evaluation criteria are stringent. This is considered as one of the most prestigious awards in the medical field in Taiwan and has been given out to various research works in basic and clinical medicine and pharmacology.
About National Cheng Kung University.
With three quarters of a century of distinguished history, with well over 120,000 powerful alumni now dotting the globe, many have achieved supreme successes in arts, business, education, science, technology and healthcare and are ready and willing to assist, with 20,000 academic selective students and 1100 academic significant faculty members currently, both have healthy dosage of international flavor, with enormous regional support, and with a permeating culture of proactive intellectual growth on the world’s stage, NCKU in Tainan, Taiwan, has evolved from its engineering genesis to become a powerful comprehensive, research and international university in Asia Pacific.
For further information contact: NCKU Press Officer Wei-Chen Huang at 06-2757575 ext. 50042 or email: weichen@mail.ncku.edu.tw
NCKU President Michael M.C. Lai praised Prof. Huang for his constant discoveries in medicine and his contribution to the national health and said that he really deserved this award.
Professor Huang’s research specialties focus on the discovery of individual variation of enzyme in different phenotype and genotype for drug metabolism. Professor Huang found that, to have the same efficacy, medicine prescribed to a typical Chinese is half in dosage than that to a Caucasian because of the variation of enzyme for drug metabolism. That is, ethnicity is a concern in the CYP2D6 variability. For example, the 34th amino acid of human enzyme CYP2D6 (Cytochrome P450 2D6), responsible for metabolism of some drugs, is serine in Chinese, in contrast to proline in Caucasian. On the other hand, the 486th amino acid of human enzyme CYP2D6 is threonine in a Chinese but serine in a Caucasian. This variation results in the lower activity of CYP2D6 in Chinese than in Caucasian. The amino acid sequence of CYP3A4, another major drug-metabolism enzyme, has many variations, but the variations cannot account for the phenotype and genotype variation. Therefore, the protein expression of CYP3A4 in human liver and small intestines is the key factor to different phenotype and genotype. The expression of CYP3A4 is determined by the pregnane X receptor (PXR), a nuclear receptor. Professor Huang also reported single nucleotide polymorphism in PXR and identified the molecular mechanism.
Professor Jin-Ding Huang obtained his PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry (renamed as Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences) from University of California in San Francisco. Professor Huang was a Visiting Professor in Dept. of Biopharmaceutical Sciences of University of Tokyo in 1997 as well as in Department of Pharmacy of University of Manchester in 1990. Professor Huang served as the Chairman of Institute of Clinical Pharmacy and the Chairman of Department of Pharmacology of NCKU. He was elected as a Fellow of American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists in 2004 as well as the Fellow of Japanese Society for the Study of Xenobiotics.
The Wang Ming-Ning Award was established by Mr. Wang Ming-Ning, founder of China Chemical & Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, in 1991 for his aspiration to improve the national health, promote the pharmaceutical technology and internationalize the pharmaceutical industry in Taiwan. This award only has two categories: “Outstanding Contribution to National Health” and “Excellent Thesis.” The evaluation criteria are stringent. This is considered as one of the most prestigious awards in the medical field in Taiwan and has been given out to various research works in basic and clinical medicine and pharmacology.
About National Cheng Kung University.
With three quarters of a century of distinguished history, with well over 120,000 powerful alumni now dotting the globe, many have achieved supreme successes in arts, business, education, science, technology and healthcare and are ready and willing to assist, with 20,000 academic selective students and 1100 academic significant faculty members currently, both have healthy dosage of international flavor, with enormous regional support, and with a permeating culture of proactive intellectual growth on the world’s stage, NCKU in Tainan, Taiwan, has evolved from its engineering genesis to become a powerful comprehensive, research and international university in Asia Pacific.
For further information contact: NCKU Press Officer Wei-Chen Huang at 06-2757575 ext. 50042 or email: weichen@mail.ncku.edu.tw
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