Erwin Neher, a German biophysicist from the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), has become the first expatriate scientist in Hong Kong and Macao to receive the nation’s top friendship award.
Neher, co-recipeint of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1991, was among 100 foreigners who were conferred with the 2024 Chinese Government Friendship Award at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on Monday.
Established in the 1950s, the award is China’s top honor to commend foreign experts for their remarkable contributions to the nation’s development.
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State Councilor Shen Yiqin presented the awards to the honorees at Monday’s ceremony. She said Chinese people will always remember the outstanding contributions of foreign experts to the nation’s modernization drive, pledging that the Chinese government will continue to provide a broader stage for foreign experts working and living in China.
As a pioneer in biomedicine, Neher joined MUST in 2016 and the university appointed him head of a biophysics laboratory named after him.
The laboratory integrates ion channel research with medical research to advance the industrialization and application of traditional Chinese medicine’s scientific achievements in the Macao SAR.
Under Neher’s leadership, the laboratory team has achieved a raft of significant research breakthroughs in areas such as clinical studies, ion channels, brain neurology, cancer research and inflammatory diseases.
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The laboratory has organized several international conferences and academic lectures, and two professors from Neher’s team have been recognized as top scientists in global rankings.
Neher has also led his team to engage in science education in Macao, including visiting local schools to ignite students’ interest, and he has established in-depth collaborations with research institutions across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area on high-precision physiological research methods, disease mechanism research and drug development.
