| 採訪視頻參見：http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/2011_c_interview_youyou.htm
屠呦呦等科研人員根據公元300年東晉時期的中國古典醫學典籍中記載的方法，成功從青蒿中提煉出了一種治療瘧疾的高效藥物--青蒿素，並且確定了其分子結構。這種藥物拯救了全世界數以百萬計的人的生命。
令當代中國尷尬的似乎是，這項世界級成就與PRC建國以來的其他科學成就（兩彈一星、核潛艇、雜交水稻、人工合成牛胰島素等等）一樣，都是在毛澤東時代完成。而改革開放以來，雖然在經濟上取得了巨大的進步，在科技創新方面的偉大建樹幾乎為零。
一名諾貝爾經濟學獎獲得者在分析中國經濟時指出：PRC建立時落後於印度，中國改革開放之前（而不是之後）的成就造成了中國大大領先印度的現狀，中國改革開放的成就是建立在之前成就的基礎上。
The 2011 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award honors a scientist who discovered artemisinin and its utility for treating malaria. Tu Youyou (China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing) developed a therapy that has saved millions of lives across the globe, especially in the developing world. An artemisinin-based drug combination is now the standard regimen for malaria, and the World Health Organization (WHO) lists artemisinin and related agents in its catalog of "Essential Medicines." Each year, several hundred million people contract malaria. Without treatment, many more of them would die than do now. Tu led a team that transformed an ancient Chinese healing method into the most powerful antimalarial medicine currently available.
。。。。
The covert operation, named Project 523 for the day it was announced—May 23, 1967—set out to battle chloroquine-resistant malaria. The clandestine nature of the enterprise and the political climate created a situation in which few scientific papers concerning the project were published for many years, the earliest ones were not accessible to the international community, and many details about the endeavor are still shrouded in mystery. In early 1969, Tu was appointed head of the Project 523 research group at her institute, where practitioners of traditional medicine worked side by side with modern chemists, pharmacologists, and other scientists. In keeping with Mao Zedong's urgings to "explore and further improve" the "great treasure house" of traditional Chinese medicine, Tu combed ancient texts and folk remedies for possible leads. She collected 2000 candidate recipes, which she then winnowed. By 1971, her team had made 380 extracts from 200 herbs. The researchers then assessed whether these substances could clear Plasmodia from the bloodstream of mice infected with the parasite. 。。。
|
