• Date:
  • Category: Tech

UNESCO and the L'Oréal Foundation announced the five winners of the 2024 World Outstanding Female Scientists Award on May 14, local time. Chinese scientist Yan Ning is one of the winners. The award ceremony will be held on May 28.

According to UNESCO, Yan Ning, a professor at the School of Life Sciences at Tsinghua University, dean of the Shenzhen Academy of Medical Sciences, and director of the Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, discovered the atomic structures of a variety of membrane proteins that mediate the transport of ions and sugars across cell membranes, revealing the transmembrane transport principle. Her distinguished research has advanced research on diseases as diverse as epilepsy and cardiac arrhythmias, and guided the treatment of pain syndromes. As an authority in the field, Yanning "is an inspiration to female scientists around the world, and she is a strong advocate for gender equality in research and science education."

The "L'Oréal-UNESCO World Outstanding Female Scientists Award" honors five outstanding female scientists from five major regions: Africa and Arab countries, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America. The winners are selected from 350 candidates from around the world by an independent international jury. The chairman of the jury is Professor Brigitte L. Kieffer, director of research at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, academician of the French Academy of Sciences, and winner of the "L'Oréal-UNESCO World Outstanding Female Scientist Award".

UNESCO said that the outstanding achievements of the laureates prove that the scientific community needs the participation of women now more than ever to solve major challenges. Over the past 26 years, the L'Oréal Foundation and UNESCO have worked together to promote gender equality in science in more than 140 countries through the World Outstanding Female Scientists Award and the Young Talent Program, bringing attention to female scientists and helping to break the scientific field. the "glass ceiling".