On the morning of August 16, the winners of the 2023 Future Science Award were announced. Dr. Jijie Chai and Dr. Jianmin Zhou were awarded the Life Science Prize for their pioneering work in the discovery of disease-resistant microsomes and elucidation of their structure and function in resistance to plant pests and diseases.

Dr. Jijie Chai and Dr. Jianmin Zhou, outstanding talents imported from overseas at the early stage of the establishment of theNational Institute of Biological Sciences，Beijing (TIMBR/NIBS), carried out scientific research at TIMBR/NIBS from 2004-2010 and 2005-2012, respectively, and since then have initiated a long-term collaboration of nearly 20 years. They are the third batch of scientists that TIMBR/NIBS has been involved in cultivating to receive this award, following Shao Feng, winner of the Future Science Award in 2019, and Li Wenhui, winner of the Future Science Award in 2022.

Outbreaks of plant diseases have had a major impact on society and civilization. Currently, 40% of global food production can be lost to plant pests and pathogens. The discovery of plant resistance loci in the 1940s suggested that plants have an innate immune mechanism. In 1994, the cloning of plant resistance genes proved this hypothesis molecularly. These resistance genes encode nucleotide-binding domains and immune receptors with leucine-rich repeat sequences, which constitute the main immune mechanism of plants against a wide range of pathogens and certain insects. However, how these immune receptors initiate plant defense responses has been a mystery.

Through 19 years of collaboration and efforts, Dr. Jijie Chai and Dr. Jianmin Zhou established the composition, structure and function of disease resistance vesicles activated by immune receptors. They found that disease-fighting vesicles are multicomponent complexes formed by immune receptor proteins upon recognition of pathogen effectors, and discovered that this complex protects plants from infection by forming calcium channels that elicit plant immune responses including programmed cell death. This discovery will lead to better methods of plant disease control, which is extremely important for global food security. Therefore, Dr. Jijie Chai and Dr. Jianmin Zhou are awarded the Future Science Award - Life Science Award for their pioneering contributions to the understanding of plant innate immune mechanisms.

We would like to express our sincere congratulations to Dr. Jijie Chai and Dr. Jianmin Zhou!

Future Science Prize

The Future Science Prize, initiated by the Hong Kong Future Science Prize Foundation Limited and co-organized by the Huairou Future Forum Science and Technology Development Center in Beijing, is the first world-class science prize awarded by a non-governmental organization in China. Established in 2016, the Prize honors scientists (regardless of nationality) who have made outstanding achievements in science and technology in the Greater China region (including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, China and Taiwan).

The Future Science Prize consists of the Life Science Prize, the Material Science Prize, and the Mathematical and Computer Science Prize, and is awarded annually.