NCKU: Prof. Huey-Lang Yang Received The "2009 TWAS Prize In The Agricultural Sciences"

Main Category: Water - Air Quality / Agriculture
Article Date: 26 Oct 2009 - 6:00 PDT

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Prof. Huey-Lang Yang, the Director of Center of Bioscience and Biotechnology and Distinguished Professor at the Institute of Biotechnology at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), has been recognized for his excellent contribution to aquiculture and presented with the award - "2009 TWAS Prize in the Agricultural Sciences" from The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Oct. 20th. He was cited for his outstanding contributions to the understanding of fish immunology, invention of oral vaccine technology and application to warm water fish aquaculture. He will be conferred with this award with a medal and USD15,000 in TWAS's 21st General Meeting in 2010.

This is the second time for the affirmation over the world since he received "Aquaculture Europe 2008-Best Poster Award" last year. Prof. Yang gave credit to the cultivation from NCKU President, Academician Michael Ming-Chiao Lai, the ex-President - Dr. Cheng I Weng, and Dr. Hwung-Hweng Hwung as Senior Executive Vice President, as well as the support from the Institute of Biotechnology and his family.

Prof. Yang commented that the Aquatic Animal Bio-Medicine R&D Team (AABM Team) of NCKU was established ten years ago under his guidance, organized a research team, established a laboratory and an experimental pond for development of biomedical technology. There are many research achievements presented in academy area but also applied to industry. They looked forward to becoming an international grouper biotech research and technology industrial development center.

In addition, Prof. I-Min Chen, an Assistant Professor closely working with Prof. Yang, developed a novel method that could extract pollution-free docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from an indigenous micro-algal species, which could revolutionize the way that the nutritional supplement is produced commercially. Indeed, the contamination, such as alkyl mercury and dioxins, commonly found with DHA production from marine fishes, stimulated us to search for new ways to produce worry-free DHA. Their fruitful research outcomes have proved the microalgaes could produce DHA in sufficient quantities and without any articifcial pollutants, indicating its potential as a food ingredient. Consequently, they have been recognized with the Best Poster Award in the conference of Aquaculture Europe 2008.

About Prof. Huey-Lang Yang

Prof. Yang received his Ph.D in Bacteriology from University of California at Davis (1972). He has served as the Director and the Associate Director of the NCKU Institute of Biotechnology; the Research Fellow of Institute of Bio-agricultural Sciences, Academia Sinica; the Adjunct Professor of Department of Veterinary Medicine of National Taiwan University (NTU); the Division Head of Molecular Biology, Development Center for Biotechnology; the Visiting Professor of National Yang-Ming University (NYMU); the Managing Director of Research and Development, ENZO Diagnostics Inc.; the Director of Recombinant DNA/Microbiology, ENZO Biochem, Inc.; the Senior Research Associate of Dept. of Genetics, The Public Health Research Institute in the City of New York; the Adjunct Assistant Professor of New York University, School of Medicine; and the Senior Research Associate of Dept. of Biological Sciences, Columbia University.

Prof. Yang has received many awards and honors, including "NIH Technique Ad Hoc Committee for SBIR Grant" (1986, 1987); "Executive Yuan Honored Outstanding Applied Sciences and Technology Award" (1992); "Young Inventor Award: Bronze Award" by Hewlett Parker & Far Eastern Economic Review (2002); "Academia-Industry Collaborations Award" by Ministry of Education (MOE) (2003); "KT Li Honorary Scholar Award" (2006); and "National Innovation Award"(2007). In addition, he has advised and directed his students on various projects, whom have been awarded with gold medals in "2008 Crazy Idea - King of Practical Applications on Creative Researches and Development of Biotechnology" and "Aquaculture Europe 08 Best Poster Award"; and a bronze medal in "2009 Crazy Idea - King of Practical Applications on Creative Researches and Development of Biotechnology".

Prof. Yang is a well-known and respected expert in biotechnology, vaccine, and diagnostics, and with main research in warm-water fish bio-medicine. There are three main topics of his researches: (1) to apply a novel and innovative technological breakthrough in aquaculture to China and Southeast Asia, and promote domestic aquaculture industry; (2) to utilize nervous necrosis virus (NNV) from grouper in epinephelus immunology, viral pathogenesis, and pathogen-host interaction; and (3) to develop the innovative vaccine technology, testing and vaccine product.

Source
The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS)
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU)