[E289]Tu Youyou Receives Nobel Prize in Stockholm

Tu Youyou Receives Nobel Prize in Stockholm

From Xinhua

It was a grand ceremony[盛大;隆重的典礼] at the Stockholm Concert Hall[斯德哥尔摩音乐厅].

Professor Hans Forssberg explained the work of chief professor Tu Youyou.

"During the 1960s and 70s, Tu Youyou took part in a major Chinese project to develop anti-malarial drugs[抗疟疾药物]. When Tu studied ancient literature[古代文学], she found that the plant Artemisia annua[青蒿], or sweet wormwood, recurred[复发；重现；采用；再来；循环；递归] in various recipes against fever[应对发热的配方/药方]."

She tested an extract[提取物] from the plant on infected mice[感染的小鼠]. Some of the malaria parasites[疟原虫] died, but the effect varied.

So Tu returned to the literature, and in a 1700 year old book she found a method for obtaining the extract without heating up[加热] the plant.

The resulting extract was extremely potent[有效的；强有力的，有权势的；有说服力的] and killed all the parasites[寄生虫]. The active component[活性组分] was identified[鉴定;辨认;识别] and given the name Artemisinin[青蒿素]. It turned out that Arteminsinin attacks the malaria parasite[疟原虫] in a unique way.

"The discovery of Artemisinin has led to development of a new drug that has saved the lives of millions of people, halving[二等分；把…减半] the mortality rate[死亡率] of malaria[疟疾；瘴气] during the past 15 years. Your discoveries represent a paradigm shift[典范转移；思考模式的转移/转换/变换] in medicine, which has not only provided revolutionary therapies[革命性的治疗] for patients suffering from devastating parasitic diseases[毁灭性的寄生虫病], but also promoted well-being[幸福；康乐] and prosperity[繁荣，成功] for individuals and society."

When asked about how she felt upon hearing the news she had won the prize[当听到获奖的消息时的反应], Tu Youyou said what she really cared about is how to prevent resistance[(抗药性)] to this kind of medicine, not the prize itself.

"Because now there is a resistance problem[耐药问题], there is still a lot of work needing to be done. I care about this, I don't care about other things. What to do with the prize, how will that affect me, I haven't thought about it yet. Neither am I really interested in it."

Tu Youyou is the first Chinese woman scientist to win the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

All the other laureates[得奖者] in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economy also got their diploma[毕业证书，学位证书；公文，文书；奖状] during the ceremony.

And late in the evening Tu Youyou and all the other laureates attended a grand Nobel banquet[诺贝尔(奖)盛宴] with the Swedish King[瑞典国王] and more than 1000 guests.

For CRI, this is Chen Xuefei reporting from Stockholm[斯德哥尔摩].