Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Hong Kong’s Shaw Prize given to 2 scientists for work on cystic fibrosis

Hong Kong’s Shaw Prize given to 2 scientists for work on cystic fibrosis

Award foundation praises scientists Paul Negulescu, Michael Welsh for their work on cystic fibrosis.

Two scientists who contributed to the study and the treatment of cystic fibrosis were among those announced on Tuesday to have received Hong Kong’s Shaw Prize this year.

Paul Negulescu, senior vice-president of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and Michael Welsh, a professor at the University of Iowa, both received the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine for their contributions to the study and treatment of the disease.

According to the Shaw Prize Foundation, they were awarded for “landmark discoveries of the molecular, biochemical, and functional defects underlying cystic fibrosis and the identification and development of medicines that reverse those defects and can treat most people affected by this disorder”.

“Their most important discovery is that they can actually treat a genetic disease like cystic fibrosis without removing the abnormal gene,” said Professor Chan Wai-yee, a council member of the foundation.

The foundation also cited the pair’s work in identifying and developing medicines that could help treat the condition.

“That means they discovered a way of using chemical drugs, which can help the mutated product to perform like a normal product,” he said.

Cystic fibrosis is a severe single-gene disorder that affects more than 80,000 people globally. Patients with the fatal disease develop a build-up of sticky mucus in their lungs and digestive systems.

Paul Negulescu, senior vice-president of Vertex Pharmaceuticals.


Chan said that previous treatments had not addressed the abnormal gene which was the cause of the disease.

The annual Shaw Prize, which was founded by the late Hong Kong philanthropist Sir Run Run Shaw in 2002, is organised into three categories, which focus on astronomy, mathematical sciences, and life science and medicine.

Recipients for each category of the award are also granted US$1.2 million.

This year’s astronomy prize was shared between Lennart Lindegren, professor emeritus at Lund University in Sweden, and Michael Perryman, adjunct professor at University College Dublin in Ireland.

The pair were recognised for their lifetime contributions to space astrometry, with an emphasis on their contributions to the development of the European Space Agency’s Hipparcos and Gaia missions.

Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that focuses on measuring the positions and movements of celestial bodies.

“In this particular case, it is not astrometry of a few objects in the sky, but really a sort of an all-sky census, trying to look at just about everything in the Milky Way,” said Professor Kenneth Young, a vice-chairman of the prize’s board of adjudicators.

He said that the Hipparcos and Gaia missions, in which Lindegren and Perryman were both heavily involved, had produced “extremely accurate and extensive surveys” of the Milky Way galaxy, providing astronomers with decades worth of data.

Michael Welsh, professor at the University of Iowa.


The award for mathematical sciences was also shared this year, with University of Princeton Professor Noga Alon and Ehud Hrushovski, a professor of mathematical logic at the University of Oxford, receiving the prize for their contributions to discrete mathematics and model theory.

Alon is also an emeritus professor of mathematics and computer science at Tel Aviv University.

“All the scientific achievements that we celebrate in the Shaw Prize are really extremely important advances in human knowledge, and each contributes to the advance of humanity in its own unique and different ways,” said Young, who also serves as the foundation’s council chairman.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
NVIDIA and Saudi Arabia Launch Strategic Partnership to Establish AI Centers
Challenges Facing EU Foreign Policy Amidst Diverging Interests
Reports Reveal Alarming Cognitive Decline in Biden Prior to Election Withdrawal
Trump Meets Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara in Historic Encounter
South Africans chant call to genocide against White people.
Trump takes a blow torch to the neocons and interventionists while speaking to the Saudis
Why Saudi Arabia Rolled Out a Purple Carpet for Donald Trump Instead of Red
Flip flop: UK Introduces New Immigration Policy to Reduce Net Migration
Elon Musk Joins Trump Meeting in Saudi Arabia
Poland Tightens Immigration Policy with New Plan to Suspend Asylum Law
Trump says it would be 'stupid' not to accept gift of Qatari plane
8-Year-Old Orders 70,000 Lollipops Using Mother’s Phone, Prompting $4,200 Amazon Bill and Viral Facebook Plea
Quantum Computing Threatens Bitcoin Security
American citizens account for 70% of worldwide pharmaceutical sales despite comprising only 4% of global population
New Details Emerge on Syrian Attacker's Motives in German Festival Stabbing
Brazil’s President Aims to Strengthen Ties with China Amid US Trade Tensions
Senate Democrats Move to Censure Trump Over Qatar Jet Gift
First White South Africans Resettled in the U.S. Amid Controversy Over Persecution Claims
Hamas Releases Last Living US Hostage from Gaza Amid Ongoing Conflict
India and Pakistan Agreement on Ceasefire Amid Ongoing Tensions
Arsenal Stages Comeback to Draw 2-2 Against Liverpool in Premier League Clash
Trump's Upcoming Visit to Gulf Nations: Investment and Security at the Forefront
Rodrigo Duterte Awaits Trial at The Hague. Next week he might be elected mayor of his hometown
Trump fires director of U.S. Copyright Office, sources say
Retired British police officer arrested over ‘thought crime’ tweet
Cardinal Robert Prevost Elected as Pope Leo XIV, Marking a Historic Papacy
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Arrested at ICE Facility Amid Congressional Visit
India-Pakistan conflict may be first test for Chinese military tech
Bill Gates Announces Plan to Wind Down Philanthropic Foundation and Disperse Wealth
Historic Papal Conclave Set to Commence in Rome
Huge Copper, Gold, and Silver Discovery in Argentina and Chile — But the Profits Go Abroad
Prince Harry is pleading for reconciliation — but the royals are just as sick of his victimhood as everyone else
The Road to Freedom: She Protested Putin, Escaped House Arrest, and Survived a 2,800-Kilometer Journey
OpenAI's Flip-Flop: No Longer Going Commercial, Back to Nonprofit, After Musk Lawsuit and Backlash
“Trump Supporter” Aims to Bring a MAGA-Style Shift to Romania
First From China: Zhao Xintong Wins the Snooker World Championship
Nvidia Faces Billion-Dollar Losses – Warns: China Is on Its Way to Becoming an AI Superpower
Trump Rules Out Third Term, Names JD Vance and Marco Rubio as Potential Successors
Mexico Says ‘No’ to U.S. Troops: President Sheinbaum Rejects Trump’s Offer to Fight Cartels
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Storms the Map, Wrecking the Two-Party Monopoly
DOGE: Reimagining Government Operations with AI
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Beijing Says U.S. Is ‘Reaching Out’ for Tariff Talks Amid Soaring Trade Tensions
U.K. Court Rejects Prince Harry’s Final Appeal Over Police Security
Prince Harry’s Heartfelt Outburst Rocks the Royal Family
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Transgender Swimmer Secures Five Gold Medals at U.S. Masters Championship
Prince Harry: “I Want Reconciliation with My Family”
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has now been officially labeled “right-wing extremist” by the federal office for the so-called “protection of the constitution.”
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
×