TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese and French researcher won the Franco-Taiwanese Scientific Grand Prize in Paris on Wednesday (Nov. 27).
This year’s recipients were Academia Sinica Institute of Biochemistry research fellow Hsu Sheng-te (徐尚德) and Paris Institute of Psychiatry and Neurosciences senior scientist Cyril Hanus, in recognition of their achievements in molecular biology, per CNA. The ceremony was cohosted by Taiwan’s National Science and Technology and French Academy of Sciences.
It said in a Thursday press release that Hsu focused on protein structure and function research, advancing liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and cryo-electron microscopy techniques. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he collaborated with Hanus to develop efficient molecular simulation tools.
Together, they created comprehensive glycoprotein models to analyze protein glycosylation structures and help explain how viruses recognize hosts and evade immune system attacks.
The Grand Prize has since 1999 become an important symbol of scientific cooperation between the two countries. Taiwan and France will explore further in fields such as AI, health, and semiconductors.