Newsletter No. 353

No. 353, 4.3.2010 鄭漢其教授獲頒國家自然科學獎 Prof. Christopher H.K. Cheng Awarded State Natural Science Award 生 物醫學學院鄭漢其 教授獲頒2009年度 國家自然科學獎二等獎，以 表彰他研究中草藥藥理的 貢獻。 鄭漢其教授的獲獎研究為 「若干重要藥用植物的成分 研究」，是與南京大學譚仁 祥教授和孔令東教授，以及 蘭州大學鄭榮梁教授及賈忠 建教授合作的項目。研究為 期長達二十年，深入探究二 百多種重要藥用植物在防治 疾病上的科學原理，裨益新 藥的研發。 鄭教授的研究集中於中國西 北地方如寧夏、新疆、青海、陝西及甘肅等地，利用成分分 離、光譜特徵、結構分析、生物化學及藥理藥效等科學方 法找出菊科、大戟科、玄參科和唇形科等重要植物類群的 成分。 研究顯示，若干能抵抗嚴峻氣候生存的植物，如串果藤 等，含豐富黃酮成分，對抗氧化及清除自由基，功效顯著， 有助預防如痛風症等與自由基相關的疾病；而黃花蒿、白 苞筋骨草、茵陳蒿等則含豐富的萜類成分，部分有顯著的 抗肝癌作用。是項研究多年來已總結成二百多篇科學論 文，在國際期刊發表，並獲其他國際刊物論文大量引用。 鄭教授對於獲獎感到十分高興：「這項研究為中大與內地 著名學府長期合作的成果，可見現代科研必須結合各方面 的力量，互補長短以爭取更大的成就。中國科研近年有長 足發展，希望這個獎項有助推動本地院校與內地院校及學 術機構的合作。」 P rof. Christopher H.K. Cheng, professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences, has won the second-class award of the 2009 State Natural Science Award for his contribution to research on composition analysis of Chinese medicinal herbs. Prof. Christopher H.K. Cheng was honoured for his collaboration with Prof. R.X. Tan and Prof. L.D. Kong of Nanjing University, and Prof. R.L. Zheng and Prof. Z.J. Jia of Lanzhou University in ‘Composition Analysis of Certain Medicinally Important Plants’. The 20-year research elucidates the components of some 200 plants, paving the way for the development of new medicines from natural products. Professor Cheng’s project pertains to the fundamental investigation of plants in the northwestern part of China, such as Ningxia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Gansu. Adopting modern scientific methods such as fractionation and isolation of chemical components, spectroscopic characterization, chemical structure elucidation, biochemistry and pharmacology, the project identified the components of certain important plant taxa, such as Asteraceae , Euphorbiaceae , Scrophulariaceae and Lamiaceae . It was discovered that plants such as Sinofranchetia chinensis that are resistant to extreme weather conditions are a rich source of flavonoids. Some possess very potent antioxidative and/or free radical scavenging activities. These compounds can be used to prevent oxidant-related illnesses such as gout. It was also found that plants like Artemisia annua , Ajuga lupulina and Artemisia capillaries contain triterpenoids that are effective in preventing liver cancer. The research has generated over 200 scientific papers that have been published in international journals, and has been widely quoted by other research papers. Professor Cheng is glad to receive state recognition for the research. ‘This is the result of years of teamwork between CUHK and a couple of leading universities on the mainland. Modern science has come to a stage where it is no longer feasible to conduct research single- handedly. The only way to strive for excellence is to combine the strengths and efforts of various parties. China has made momentous development in science and technology in the past decade and Chinese science will continue to flourish in the years ahead. I hope this award will further promote collaboration between local and mainland institutions.’ 呂自成教授榮膺兩大國際權威工程學院院士 Prof. John Lui Conferred ACM and IEEE Fellowships 計 算機科學與工程學系系主任呂自成教授榮獲計 算機器學會（ACM）及電機及電子工程師學會 （IEEE）推選為院士。 ACM因呂自成教授對並行儲存及通訊系統隨機分析的 卓越貢獻，推選他為2009年度全球四十七位院士之一， 為全中國唯一獲選者。IEEE則選出呂教授為2010年的院 士，以表揚他在儲存和通訊系統、點對點網絡的效能建 模及分析上的非凡成就。中大的IEEE院士總數由是增至 二十六位。 呂教授表示：「同時獲授ACM及IEEE院士銜，我深感榮 幸，並非常感謝中大給予我許多寶貴機會，與校內科學及 工程學界的權威學者一同鑽研學問，令我獲益良多。同 時，我要感謝我的研究隊伍，多年來努力不懈為計算機界 創新知識。」 呂教授為本港土生土長的計算機科學家，早年於加州大 學洛杉磯分校取得計算機科學博士學位，後加入IBM聖 荷西研究實驗室（現稱愛曼登研究中心）參與多項關於 檔案系統及輸入與輸出並行結構的研究及發展項目。他 現時領導多名研究生及博士後研究員組成高等網絡連線 及系統研究組，進行多項網絡連線的研究。 P rof. John Lui Chi-shing, chairman of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, has been elected a fellow by two prestigious engineering organizations, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In 2009, 47 scholars were elected ACM fellows worldwide and Professor Lui is the only one from China. The honour recognizes his extraordinary contributions to stochastic analysis of parallel storage and communication systems. IEEE also elected Professor Lui as a 2010 fellow in recognition of his outstanding contributions to performance modelling and analysis of storage communication systems and peer-to- peer networks. With Professor Lui on the list, CUHK now has a total of 26 IEEE fellows. Professor Lui feels honoured to be conferred the fellowships and would like to thank his research team for their hard work, ‘I am deeply humbled by the election of ACM and IEEE. In addition, it is a privilege that I can work in CUHK with many colleagues who are transformative figures in science and engineering.’ Born and raised in Hong Kong, Professor Lui received his PhD in computer science from the University of California at Los Angeles. After graduation, he joined the IBM San Jose Research Laboratory (presently named Almaden Research Center) to participate in various research and development projects on file systems and parallel I/O architectures. He currently leads the Advanced Networking and System Research Group formed by research students and postdoctoral fellows to work on networking research problems.