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| Prestigious Young Investigator Award (5-15-2008) |
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I am extremely pleased to inform you that Dr. Shu-Hsing Wu has been awarded the Academia Sinica Young Investigator Award. This is a prestigious award for the most promising young scientists in Taiwan (not just for PIs in AS), and Shu-Hsing is the first person from IPMB getting this recognition. Please join me in congratulating Shu-Hsing for receiving this honor. --Tuan-hua |
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| Promotion in May (5-9-2008) |
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I am glad to bring the good news to you that the Academy Committee has approved the promotion of Dr. Guang-Yuh Jauh to Associate Research Fellow. Congratulations to Guang-Yuh! -- Tuan-hua |
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| Dr. Jason Shih (石家興教授), Winner of Evonik Degussa Award (5-09-2008) |
Dr. Jason Shih, Distinguished Visiting Professor at IPMB, will be the winner of Evonik Degussa Award at the centennial commemoration of Poultry Science Association (PSA) in Niagra Falls on July 20-23. This award, sponsored by Evonik Degussa Industry, a global chemical company based in Germany, is to recognize the excellence of Dr. Shih’s research accomplishment. He is the first Chinese scientist to win the major award of this kind in PSA.
In his 30 years of career at North Carolina State University, Dr. Shih pioneered the study of thermophilic anaerobic digestion of animal waste for pollution control and biogas energy production. His novel design and operation of the digester earned him the first US patent. From the discovery of feather degradation, he and his students isolated a keratinase-producing bacterium, purified the enzyme, and sequenced the gene. Subsequently, his research group genetically modified the bacterium for hyper-production of keratinase and scaled up the production to 50-KL fermentation. More interestingly, in application research, the enzyme was proved to be able convert feathers into digestible feed protein. As a feed additive, keratinase can improve feed digestibility and lower the cost of animal production. It was also demonstrated to degrade prion protein, a potential method for the prevention of mad cow disease. This series of research was honored with 7 more patents. Based on these patents, Dr. Shih and his son, Dr. Giles Shih, and student, Dr. J.J. Wang, started a biotech company, BioResource International (BRI), in North Carolina eight years ago. BRI has brought the keratinase technology to the world market. It is estimated that the keratinase-based feed additive will have the potential of billions of US dollars for feed cost saving in the world.
Dr. Shih’s work has involved extensive collaborative research and student exchanges in Wales, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and Mainland China. He has won many awards for his international services, including USDA International Fellowship, Sigma Iota Zho International Award, and University of Wales Visiting Fellowship, NTU Visiting Professorship, NSC Visiting Fellowship at Academia Sinica. For his service to his Alma Mater National Taiwan University, he was honored by a special Presidential Award. He holds Ajunct Professorship of China Agricultural University, Beijing. In the U.S., he has been honored by AHA Fellowship and National Pew Fellowship. |
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A young research fellow (3-14-2008)
“…… as long as you keep your eyes on the ground and fallen woody debris……. By doing so, not only will it keep you from being tripped down unexpectedly, but you may also run into some magic creatures from time to time!”
It was Yu-Ming Ju’s advice for finding a gold mine in his blog (A journey to macrofungi ... diary of a mycologist) in our early web page.
Those magic creatures including a variety of mushrooms in the woods really promote a lot in Yu-Ming’s carrier at IPMB. He was nominated to research fellow by IPMB and was approved by Academia Sinica in March 14 2008. A party with plenty delectable mushrooms will be held in the afternoon April 24, 2008 at room 106 to cheer the fungi man.
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