2017 National Science and Technology Award-winning Project Tour： Deciphering the Road to Innovation
On January 8, 2017, the National Science and Technology Awards Conference was held in Beijing. Two scientists won the highest national science and technology awards, and 35 national natural science awards, 66 national technology invention awards and 170 national science and technology progress awards were selected. A series of award-winning major scientific achievements constantly refresh the creative height of China and show China’s innovation confidence. Most of the founders of these achievements have persisted in the initial research for decades and devoted their efforts to the construction of an innovative country and a world science and technology power. The science and technology vision edition will focus on them and decrypt their road to innovation, so stay tuned.
— — Editor
Tang Benzhong, the first prize winner of the National Natural Science Award.
Love your job is half the battle.
Our reporter Yu Sinan
Comments on innovation: new concepts can lead new development trends and open up new research fields. Revolutionary ideas can change our mode of thinking and even our way of life. In order to encourage original discovery, we must encourage the spirit of challenge and cultivate innovative culture. Because the highest realm of scientific pursuit is to subvert "common sense" and open up new fields and create new knowledge through conceptual breakthrough.
Award-winning Project: Aggregation Induced Luminescence
"To do scientific research, it is necessary to work hard ‘ Station ’ On the shoulders of giants, we should also dare to challenge authority and put giants ‘ Step on ’ At your feet. " This is what Tang Benzhong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, often says to students. Seventeen years ago, he and his team challenged the traditional theory and put forward the concept of "aggregation-induced luminescence" for the first time in the world, and opened up a new direction of organic luminescent materials research through hard work. In 2018, Tang Benzhong won the first prize of the National Natural Science Award for his pioneering contribution in the field of "Aggregation Induced Luminescence".
God doesn’t just call. The discovery of "aggregation-induced luminescence" phenomenon can not be separated from the long-term research and accumulation of the team.
In short, "aggregation-induced luminescence" refers to the phenomenon that molecules emit more light in the aggregated state than in the monomolecular state. Until Tang Benzhong’s team discovered this phenomenon, scientists always believed in the theory of "aggregation quenching luminescence", that is, the luminous intensity of luminescent molecules weakened or even disappeared completely in the aggregation state.
Generally, organic luminescent materials are used in aggregate or solid state, so the phenomenon of "aggregation quenching luminescence" greatly limits the application range of luminescent materials. The theory of "aggregation quenching luminescence" is like a curse, which has framed people’s minds. Many scientists have tried to find ways to isolate molecules so that luminescence will not be quenched, but the results are limited.
In 2001, Tang Benzhong and his students accidentally discovered a phenomenon that was completely opposite to "aggregation quenching luminescence", that is, a class of organic molecules did not emit light in solution, but their luminescence was significantly enhanced after aggregation. Tang Benzhong is keenly aware that it may contain unique significance. After careful study and many experiments, he creatively put forward the concept of "aggregation-induced luminescence".
"Sometimes, doing research needs to jump out of the existing thinking frame. If you observe a phenomenon different from your existing experience, your first reaction should not be to avoid it, but to trace it to the source with great excitement." Tang Benzhong said.
"God doesn’t just call." Tang Benzhong said that the discovery of the phenomenon of "aggregation-induced luminescence" seems accidental, but in fact it is inseparable from the long-term research and accumulation of the team.
In order to solve the mystery that some organic molecules emit light in aggregated state, during that time, Tang Benzhong thought about this problem sleepless nights. Finally, after a lot of experiments and fruitful discussions, his team put forward an explanation model, that is, the phenomenon of "aggregation-induced luminescence" was caused by the limitation of intramolecular motion, which was widely recognized by the scientific community.
"Aggregation-induced luminescence" is an original concept first put forward by Chinese scientists, which opens up a new field of luminescent materials. At present, scientists from more than 1,500 research units in more than 80 countries and regions have entered this field.
Love your job! If you do this, you will be half successful.
"Original scientific research is like digging a well, the more springs you find down. If we just follow without surpassing, our thinking will be exhausted sooner or later, "Tang Benzhong said. At present, Tang Benzhong team has prepared a series of high-performance "aggregation-induced luminescence" materials, and cooperated with researchers in different fields to promote the application of these materials in photoelectric, sensing, biology, medical and other fields.
Tang Benzhong’s original dream was not to be a chemist. In middle school, he loved literature and wrote plays for the school art troupe. In 1977, at the suggestion of his brother, he applied for a major in science and engineering. He became attached to polymer science because he did well in the organic chemistry exam, and was taken a fancy to by the recruiting teachers of South China Institute of Technology (now South China University of Technology), so he was recruited into the school.
"After graduation, I was sent to Japan by the state instead of the United States where I wanted to study. My life seems to be ‘ Selected ’ Yes. " Tang Benzhong said. Facing the "chosen" life, Tang Benzhong has his own experience and ideas — — Love what you do.
During the four years in South China Institute of Technology, in order to squeeze out more time to study, Tang Benzhong didn’t go home once in the summer vacation, and basically spent it in the library. Doing research at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, his laboratory is often brightly lit at midnight.
Someone once asked Tang Benzhong the secret of doing good research, and his answer was: "Love your job! If you do this, you will be half successful. "
In Tang Benzhong’s view, the learning environment and conditions of young people are much better now than before, and they should concentrate on laying a solid foundation. "Some researchers pursue ‘ Short, flat and fast ’ Hot research, it is difficult to have time to calm down and think about major scientific issues, so it is difficult to really make significant scientific research results. Young people should have the consciousness and courage to do original research, and the whole society should also create a good culture of innovation. " Tang Benzhong said.
Li Jiayang, the first prize winner of the National Natural Science Award.
Have the courage to challenge difficult problems.
Our reporter Wu Yuehui
Words of innovation: To engage in scientific research, one must have the courage and spirit to challenge scientific problems. Don’t think that you can’t solve them just because others can’t. Dare to challenge and have confidence. The second is to have a very good team, which is very critical. Third, we must have the spirit of perseverance, not wavering in difficult times, and be able to persist all the time. The fourth is to have acumen. Without acumen, you have no idea where the most important key point of a scientific research lies.
Award-winning Project: Molecular Mechanism of Formation of High Yield and Good Quality Traits in Rice and Variety Design
The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is one of the main rice producing areas in China, which has always been a region with a very high level of rice breeding and production in history. However, in recent 20 years, the rice yield in this area has entered a slow growth period, and there are some problems such as poor quality, weak disease resistance and serious degradation of main varieties, which also brings a series of problems such as abuse of antibiotics and pesticides. In this case, scientists have been thinking: can we find a "perfect coordination" between rice quality and quantity to achieve the best comprehensive ability?
After years of efforts, the research team led by Li Jiayang, an academician of China Academy of Sciences, finally found this "perfect coordination point". They used the concept and technology of molecular design breeding, and after careful hybridization "design", they bred new rice varieties with ideal plant type and excellent genes such as super high yield, early maturity and resistance to rice blast.
A few days ago, this breakthrough achievement was also of great strategic significance for guiding future crop genetic improvement and ensuring national food security, and won the first prize of the 2017 National Natural Science Award.
"Molecular design" breeding technology can accurately improve the shortcomings of rice.
In the past half century, rice breeding in China achieved two important breakthroughs and became an important part of the first "green revolution" in the world.
The first time was the success of dwarf breeding in 1960s, which increased rice yield by 20%— 30%； The second time was the successful research of hybrid rice in the mid-1970s, and the rice yield increased by about 20% on the basis of short-stem improved varieties.
The two breakthroughs have well solved the problem of food and clothing in developing countries such as China. How to eat well when you are full, so that rice can be both high-yield and high-quality?
In 1994, after completing his postdoctoral studies in the United States, Li Jiayang immediately returned to China and began to work hard to achieve this goal. Li Jiayang chose "molecular design" breeding technology as the research direction. “‘ Molecular design ’ Breeding technology is the most advanced technology in the field of crop genetic improvement in the world It can realize direct selection and effective aggregation of genes, that is to say, it can accurately improve shortcomings and aggregate multiple advantages, which is expected to not only achieve high yield and high quality of rice, but also greatly improve breeding efficiency, shorten breeding years and realize ‘ Precision breeding ’ 。”
The research process is extremely difficult and there is no precedent to follow.
The economic traits of most crops, such as high yield, stable yield, high quality and high efficiency, are regulated by multiple genes and have the characteristics of "modularity".
"Rice, too. Therefore, in this process, we need to first understand the different characters corresponding to different genes in rice, as well as the possible characters produced by the coupling of different genes, and analyze their expression regulation mechanism and interaction mode. Then these genes are relatively accurately recombined according to needs to get the varieties we need, so that the process of hybridization and seed selection becomes targeted and predictable. " Li Jiayang said, "It’s like building blocks. We choose the building blocks we need in a targeted manner to build the buildings we need faster and better."
However, the process of "building blocks" is not easy.
Li Jiayang frankly said that the most difficult period is the initial stage of research. "This is also a huge challenge in the world, and there is no precedent to follow. We can only explore our own research and establish a system of map-based cloning of rice genes. " Li Jiayang said.
Finally, after 8 years of hard work, Li Jiayang team successfully established a set of map-based cloned rice gene system. "With this system, we can clone all the genes of rice."
"What makes me most happy is that we successfully found the most critical gene in the subsequent research." Li Jiayang said that the gene called ideal plant type can make the plant type better. "The stems are thicker, the ears are bigger and the grains are bigger, which is the most important trait for high yield."
In addition to high yield and high quality of rice, "molecular design" breeding technology can also greatly shorten the breeding time. Conventional breeding needs 7-mdash; It takes 8 years to select breeding materials, and the "molecular design" breeding technology can shorten it to 4-mdash; Six years or even shorter, the breeding cycle is shortened to 1/2 to 1/3 of the original.
Li Jiayang said: "In conventional breeding, scientists can’t use the naked eye ‘ Audition ’ Produce plants with desired traits. However, in molecular module design breeding, even if it is still a seedling, as long as you do a genetic test, you can ‘ Lock ’ The one you want. "
Jia Zhenyuan, the first prize winner of the National Technological Invention Award.
I am a worker.
Zhao Yongxin and Lu Dongguang
Innovation: Find the right way to do scientific research. There are many hard-working people, and the key is to find the right direction. The right path may get twice the result with half the effort; If you go wrong, you may not succeed even if you make great efforts and go around in a big circle.
Award-winning project: high-quality and efficient processing technology and equipment for high-performance carbon fiber composite components
"I am a worker" — — When meeting and shaking hands, Jia Zhenyuan "reported himself" like this.
Jia Zhenyuan, 54, is distinguished professor, a Changjiang Scholar of Dalian University of Technology, the chief scientist of the National 973 Program, the winner of the National Ten Thousand Talents Program, and the first finisher of the 2017 National Technological Invention Award.
Short and gray-haired, he told reporters: "Farmers should plant good land and get more grain, workers should do a good job and produce good products, and we engaged in engineering science should understand the problems and get the technology through, and strive to solve practical problems and meet the major needs of the country."
Jia Zhenyuan’s work is a worldwide problem — — High-quality and efficient processing of carbon fiber reinforced resin matrix composites (hereinafter referred to as "carbon fiber composites").
Aiming at the bottleneck problem that restricts the development of the industry
Jia Zhenyuan has worked in the field of precision machining of mechanical engineering for nearly 30 years since he graduated from doctoral school and stayed in school to teach. "We work scientifically and always hope that what we do can be meaningful, combine our own research with the needs of the country, and aim at the bottleneck problem that universities have advantages and enterprises can’t solve and restrict the development of the industry."
High-quality and efficient processing of carbon fiber composites is such a "stuck neck" problem.
The lighter the high-end equipment in aviation, aerospace, transportation and other fields, the faster it runs and the farther it flies, and the greater the payload. Jia Zhenyuan introduced that the weight of these equipment is generally calculated by "grams", and the fuel consumption can be reduced by 3% for every 1% reduction in the structural weight of the aircraft & mdash; 4%； High-speed rail can reduce weight by 1% and energy consumption by 6%— 7%。
There are two ways to reduce weight: one is clever design, and the other is light material. At present, the lightweight material with rigidity and strength belongs to carbon fiber composite material. Moreover, it is easy to realize the synchronous manufacturing of materials and structures as a whole, and has become the preferred material for high-end equipment to reduce weight and increase efficiency.
"But it is not enough to have good materials, and the processing technology must keep up." Jia Zhenyuan said that only after a series of mechanical processing such as trimming and drilling can composite components be connected, assembled and used in high-end equipment. It is a headache for enterprises that burr, tear, delamination and other damages are easy to occur in the processing of composite components. These machining damages will affect the bearing capacity, fatigue life and reliability of components.
In 2003, after discovering this "stuck neck" problem when cooperating with enterprises, the research team made up their minds to overcome this difficulty.
Jia Zhenyuan told reporters that carbon fiber composite is a typical difficult-to-process material because of its multilayer superposition, multiphase mixing and anisotropy, which is completely different from homogeneous materials such as metals.
"The problem must be solved from the root." Jia Zhenyuan determined the R&D path for the team: from the applied basic research, the root cause of processing damage of carbon fiber composites was clarified from the composition mechanism, and then the theoretical methods to solve common problems were extracted from engineering practice.
With the spirit of "ants gnawing at bones", they finally made a number of major breakthroughs: they found out the removal mechanism of carbon fiber composites and the formation mechanism of machining damage, put forward the cutting theory for carbon fiber composites, and established the dynamic simulation model of cutting force and cutting process.
On this basis, the R&D team used theory to guide practice, put forward the principle of "micro-element removal" and "reverse shearing" to suppress machining damage, and invented three categories and nine series of tools for drilling and milling. The R&D team also developed a series of machining processes with negative pressure reverse cooling and self-air cooling chip removal function, and developed 13 sets of CNC machining process equipment.
Since 2010, the new tools and technical equipment developed by Jia Zhenyuan’s team have been put into use, and the processing damage of carbon fiber composites has been controlled within 0.1 mm.
I like people to call me teacher Jia best.
Since 2005, Jia Zhenyuan has won the National Technological Invention Award for four times. During this period, he was also promoted from the Dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering to the Minister of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Energy, and since 2015, he has served as the vice president of Dalian University of Technology.
"In fact, I like people to call me ‘ Teacher Jia ’ 。” He said frankly, "I define myself as a teacher. Teaching is my duty and scientific research is my duty. I have been a dean and minister for many years. Administration and scientific research cannot be said to have no conflict. The key is how to allocate time and improve efficiency. "
How did Jia Zhenyuan do it?
My colleague’s answer is "three noes". Professor Gao Hang, the backbone of the team, said: "Teacher Jia can’t play mahjong, poker, singing and has almost no hobbies."
Jia Zhenyuan’s trick is three "moments": arrive early in the morning, take a short break at noon, and work a little more after work.
"In fact, there are more than three teachers engaged in scientific research ‘ Later ’ 。” Professor Wang Fuji, a team member, said that Jia Zhenyuan has almost no holidays, and his desk is full of books. Whenever he has time, he reads materials and studies problems. "On one Sunday, I went to the office building to deal with something. When I passed Mr. Jia’s office, I saw him lowering his head and carefully pondering the knives in his hand."
Li Lanjuan, winner of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.
It is my wish to meet the needs of the people.
Our reporter Gu Yekai
Innovation testimony: I have relied on state grants to complete my studies since I was a child. It was the party and the state that trained me to grow up step by step. I have worked as a barefoot doctor and know the needs of the people for medical services. This is also my initial intention to become a doctor, teach and engage in scientific research. This time, we won the first national special prize of medical and health system, and it is an innovation and breakthrough in the prevention and control system of emerging infectious diseases. I will continue to lead the team to contribute to "Healthy China".
Award-winning projects: major innovations and technological breakthroughs in the prevention and control system of emerging infectious diseases represented by the prevention and control of human infection with H7N9 avian influenza.
Create and lead the "China technology" to treat patients.
Recalling the spring of 2013, Li Lanjuan, academician of China Academy of Engineering and director of the State Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases Diagnosis and Treatment, was most impressed by the tension of racing against time.
In April 2013, Cao, a male patient, developed fever with a temperature as high as 39.5 degrees Celsius and was admitted to a hospital in Hangzhou. On the 12 th, the condition began to get worse, coughing and expectoration, and there was obvious shortness of breath. After diagnosis, Cao was a patient infected with H7N9 avian influenza, with respiratory distress syndrome, decreased blood pressure and shock. The consultant reported to Li Lanjuan that there was little hope for the patient to be rescued. Should he be transferred to another hospital? Li Lanjuan considered that the patient’s onset was only six days, which was the period when the patient’s lungs were seriously damaged by the peak of cytokine storm. At that time, there was no effective treatment for cytokine storm in the world.
"The patient is so young, although the hope is slim, as long as there is one percent hope, we must make 100 percent efforts!" After a comprehensive analysis of the progress of patients with severe infection, Li Lanjuan decided to apply the artificial liver support system to treat respiratory failure and block the cytokine storm according to the principle that Lee’s artificial liver technology he created can remove inflammatory factors in patients. She confessed to the consultant, maintained the patient’s blood pressure and adequate oxygen supply, maintained the vital signs, and immediately transferred the patient to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University for emergency treatment with artificial liver technology.
Sure enough, this technical treatment scheme has achieved remarkable results. After 2 hours, the patient’s blood pressure began to stabilize and the inflammatory mediators of cytokines decreased rapidly. After five days and five nights of rescue, Cao miraculously survived the life difficulties of organ failure. In these five days, Li Lanjuan didn’t sleep for a while, and constantly summarized the treatment plan, and formed a treatment strategy of strictly controlling the use of antibiotics and hormones, and adopting anti-virus, anti-hypoxemia and multiple organ failure, anti-shock, anti-secondary infection ("four antibodies") to maintain water-electrolyte balance and microecological balance ("two balances").
Successful prevention and control of human infection with H7N9 avian influenza virus.
That spring, there were many sleepless nights like this. After the outbreak of the H7N9 epidemic, the project team confirmed the pathogen of the new H7N9 within five days and announced the whole gene sequence to the world, which won time for the global response to this new infectious disease. Li Lanjuan said that this is something that makes the medical community in China feel proud. "The most painful lesson of SARS is that the pathogen cannot be confirmed for a long time." The project team established a monitoring network for emerging infectious diseases with in-depth sequencing and Qualcomm data analysis as the core, which can complete the analysis of more than 300 pathogens within 72 hours, providing key technologies for early detection of new pathogens and monitoring of pathogen variation.
Finding the pathogen is only the first step in epidemic prevention and control. Team Li Lanjuan established the technical system of forecasting and early warning of emerging infectious diseases and the prevention and control mode featuring molecular typing and traceability, and expounded the epidemiological characteristics and laws of the epidemic for the first time. The team also confirmed that the live poultry market is the source of human infection with H7N9 avian influenza virus from epidemiology, serology and molecular virology, and proved for the first time that closing the live poultry market can significantly reduce the risk of virus transmission from poultry to people.
In order to effectively diagnose more emerging infectious diseases, Li Lanjuan team established an efficient and rapid research and development platform for diagnostic reagents for emerging infectious diseases in China. After the discovery of H7N9 pathogen, the detection reagent was successfully developed within 2 days, extended to 31 provinces and cities in China in 3 days, extended to neighboring countries in 5 days, and extended to the whole world by the World Health Organization in 7 days, which indicates that China’s technology in this field has reached and led the international advanced level. The team also successfully developed China’s first influenza vaccine seed strain infected with H7N9 avian influenza virus by reverse genetic technology, which broke the history that China’s influenza vaccine strain had to rely on foreign countries.
This is the first time in the history of prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases that scientists in China have successfully prevented and controlled the major emerging infectious diseases in China by using the self-created technical system, which not only avoided the recurrence of SARS, but also achieved outstanding results in controlling the import of infectious diseases such as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus MERS and Zika and assisting Africa in fighting Ebola. The World Health Organization once commented: "China’s risk assessment and evidence-based response to human infection with H7N9 avian influenza can be used as a model for emergency response to similar incidents in the future."
The portraits in this edition are all painted by Cai Huawei.