Nikkei Asia Prizes 2003

Work in genomics could help end world hunger

MITSUO TOGA
staff writer

BEIJING - The Beijing Genomics Institute grabbed global attention in April 2002 when Science magazine reported that the lab had beaten the rest of the world in the race to complete the genomic map of indica (long-grain) rice. Leading the research team was Yang Huanming, director of the institute and winner of the Nikkei Asia Prize for Science, Technology and Innovation. He is one of the foremost genomic scientists in China.

Born in 1952 in a farming village in Zhejiang Province, Yang began studying long-grain rice out of a desire to help developing countries boost harvest levels and combat poverty. His genomic research on the indica grain was conducted as part of a government program aimed at creating a new and higher-yielding strain of rice.

Development of rice offering higher yields and greater resistance to drought, disease and pests would help farmers in underdeveloped regions of the world immensely. For the scientists pursuing this goal, completion of the genetic map for long-grain rice represents a huge step in the right direction.

Yang, together with three young scientists who studied in the U.S. and Europe, established the Beijing Genomics Institute in 1999 as a nonprofit research entity. After obtaining his doctorate from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, Yang himself conducted genetic research in France and the U.S. before returning to China in 1994 and becoming a professor at Beijing Medical University.

Under his leadership, the Beijing Genomics Institute continues to grow in both size and status. With the opening of a branch in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, in 2001, the institute became the largest genomic research organization in China.

Sporting a 500-strong research team, the most powerful supercomputer in the country and the very latest equipment, the institute, housed in a plain-looking building in a high-tech park near Beijing International Airport, is now regarded as one of the most capable genetics labs in Asia. The capacity came in handy during the rice genome project, as the decision to use the "shotgun" sequencing method presented many unforeseen challenges that had to be overcome.

Fields of interest at the Beijing Genomics Institute extend far beyond the agricultural realm. In September 1999 the institute joined an international consortium researching human DNA and by June 2000 had finished mapping around 1% of the entire human genome.

Yang and his fellow scientists continue to expand the breadth of their research activity even today. One project currently under way involves collaborating with the government of Denmark in an effort to sequence the genome of pigs.