The “preliminary results for selection of Macao Science and Technology Awards 2020” were announced recently, recommending 9 projects for the Natural Science Award category, 4 for the Technological Invention Award category, and 3 for the Science and Technology Progress Award category. Among the nominated projects, 4 pertain to Macau University of Science and Technology (M.U.S.T.). In particular, the project “Research on the surface and the interior structures of Moon, asteroids, and giant planets” whose principal investigators are Associate Professor Zhu Menghua, and Chair Professor Zhang Keke, Director of the State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, was recommended to receive the first prize of Natural Science Award.
Another project, “Establishment and application of ISO international standard system for Chinese medicinal materials” whose principal investigators are Chair Prof. Liu Liang, President of M.U.S.T. and concurrent Director of the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Prof. Zhou Hua, Vice Dean of Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Associate Prof. Xie Ying from the School of Pharmacy, Dr. Huang Yufeng, and Post-doc Researcher He Fan, was recommended to receive the second prize of Science and Technology Progress Award.
Another two award-winning projects from M.U.S.T. include “Pharmacology based drug discovery and development”, whose principal investigator is Prof. Zhu Yizhun, Dean of the School of Pharmacy, recommended to receive the second prize of Natural Science Award, and “Characteristic Molecular Profiling for Discovering New Drug Targets and Bioactive TCM Components”, whose principal investigators are Chair Prof. Jiang Zhihong, Vice President of M.U.S.T. and concurrent Deputy Director of the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Associate Prof. Wang Jingrong, Associate Prof. Bai Liping, Chair Prof. Liu Liang and Assistant Prof. Zhu Guoyuan, recommended to receive the third prize of Natural Science Award.
The chairman of the review committee Yang Wei acknowledged that this year’s award selection testified to the diversified development of science and technology research undertakings in Macao, which contain not only astronomy and physics research associated with national lunar probing missions but also design of electronic chips that are highly connected to the semiconductor industry, as well as a number of delightful research outcomes in areas such as biomedicine and information technology.
The preliminary results are subject to approval by the Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region, upon which the award presentation ceremony will be held in this October.
