Saving Minds,Saving Lives

By Tang Yuankai

Saving Minds,Saving Lives

By Tang Yuankai

A female Chinese scientist hunts for a cure to Alzheimer’s disease

W hen Charles Kuen Kao, former president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and pioneer of fiber optic telecommunications, was bestowed with a Nobel Prize in physics at the age of 76 in 2009,he could scarcely recall the details of the fiber optics technology he had helped develop. The outstanding China-born scientist was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia.

Today, AD has become a serious health issue for people over 65 years old globally,afflicting 10 m illion in China and rising by 300,000 annually. As the aging population grows, AD is predicted to affect 1 in 85 people globally by 2050, bringing the total number to above 115 m illion. Though there is still no cure for the disease, researchers are searching for an effective remedy.Professor Nancy Yuk-Yu Ip, Dean of Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS),has spent half of her life researching effective medicines for brain degenerative diseases,such as AD and Parkinson’s disease.

Look ing fo r a cu re

Ip, 56, was born in Hong Kong as the youngest of six children in her fam ily. As a child,Ip studied hard and often scored at the top of her class. Economic struggles forced her three elder sisters to give up opportunities to enter university. However, encouraged by her parents and siblings, Ip went on to enroll in university after college.

Ip became a scientist after receiving a PhD in medicine at Harvard University in 1983. In 1993, she began her research and teaching w ork at HKUST. Her research focused mainly on the molecular basis of neuronal development and plasticity, neurodegenerative diseases and drug development.Her objective has been to find a cure for brain degenerative diseases.

Ip’s determination to cure AD is personal.Her aunt suffered from AD many years ago.

“My aunt could not even recognize family members when she had the disease. I wanted to find an effective medicine to relieve her pain as soon as possible, but she passed away over 10 years ago. It was a heavy blow to my mother,”said Ip. “My mother was very sad. She knew that I was doing research in the field, and often asked me when I would find a cure.”

L’ORÉAL GLORY: Nancy Yuk-Yu Ip receives the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Wom en in Science in Paris, the headquarters o f UNESCO, on March 12, 2004

Her mother’s expectations strengthened Ip’s sense of urgency. “Though the research has a long way to go, both my team and I believe that we will succeed in the end,” Ip said.

Ip has indeed made much progress and experienced many setbacks over the past 30 years.“Along this journey, my team and I know there are challenges ahead. However, we continue to pursue our goal and follow up on every new clue or possibility. We believe that all our efforts will help us find the answer,” Ip said.

Ip focuses on the function of brain and brain nerves, hoping to find the causes of and cure for AD. She has received 12 patents and her 130 academic papers have been cited over 9,000 times. In 2003, she won the State Natural Science Award 2003 in China for her breakthrough research. A year later, Ip won the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science in 2004 “for discoveries concerning proteins which favor the grow th and preservation of neurons in brain development.”

The L’O réal-UNESCO Aw ard for Women in Science is bestowed upon the most prominent female scientists all over the world.Ip is the second Chinese scientist to receive the honor, following Li Fanghua, an electron m icroscopy physicist and academ ician of the CAS, who won the award in 2003.

Thanks to Ip and her research team, a medicine is in development to cure brain degenerative disease after eight years of efforts.Last year, the medicine research work reached the final stage.

“We are cooperating w ith an international pharmaceutical company on clinical research of this medicine. Many experiments and testing are yet to be done, but we estimate the medicine w ill be available in the market in five or seven years,” Ip said.

Exploring brain science

In recent years, Ip has explored the relation-ship between neurotrophic factors and neuron development. She discovered three new neurotrophins and studied their characteristics and functions, as well as a cell called EphA4,which can be used to cure regression of cognitive ability.

W ho is Nancy Yuk-Yu Ip?

Ip also made a breakthrough in the field when she found protein Cdk5 that weakens the ability to learn and memorize. A fter removing Cdk5 from the brains of a group of m ice, researchers found that their learning ability was strengthened. They believe that subduing proteins such as Cdk5 may improve people’s memory.

“The new medicine is being researched and developed. Basic research has been completed and we have found a pharmaceutical factory to produce it,” Ip said. “The key is to find the causes of AD and how the new medicine functions in order to strengthen the efficacy of the medicine.

Most medicines for AD currently on the market have side effects, such as a heightened risk for liver disease, so many pharmaceutical factories are w illing to develop and produce a new-generation medicine for AD. Ip hopes to develop one w ith fewer negative effects and the ability to prevent and cure AD, as well as enhance memory function in healthy people.

A Big Fam ily

Ip said she owes her accomplishments to the support of her family. When Ip learned that she had won the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science in 2004, she fi rst called her husband and then her two children and parents to inform them of the good news.“They were all very happy for me,” she said.

As a businessman, her husband does not know the intricate details of her research, but he supports her work.

DEDICATED TO SCIENCE: Nancy Yuk-Yu Ip (second right) and Li Fanghua (third left), another Chinese p rize w inner o f the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Wom en in Science, attend an event celebrating wom en’s contributions to science in Paris on March 7, 2003

The scientific research field, in the eyes of many, is dom inated by men. A woman has to sacrifice a lot to get ahead. Ip said she assumes the roles of mother, wife, teacher and team leader at the same time. In order to fulfi ll these roles, she has to balance work and family.

“It is hard to find a balance. In the past, I would have breakfast w ith my children, send them to school and then arrive at the office around 7:30 a.m. In the evening, I went back home for dinner, chatted w ith my husband and children and watched TV w ith them,” she said. “I tried not to work at home. It is important for a working woman to communicate w ith her fam ily. For me, I try to do things for my fam ily and make them understand that I care for them.”

Ip’s students have also become like a second fam ily. They love doing research w ith her. However, Ip does not like her students calling her “boss” as many students do on the Chinese mainland. “If they call me ‘boss,’ it feels as if they’re doing research for me rather than for the advancement of science.”

Ip said nothing makes her happier than being a teacher—even more than her numerous honors and awards.