Chinese scientist wins Nobel Prize for malaria treatment
A female Chinese scientist has just been awarded half of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for her discovery concerning a novel herbal therapy that fights against malaria.
Tu Youyou, the 12th woman to win a Nobel Prize in this category, is the inventor of artemisinin which remains the most effective treatment against malaria.
Her initial discovery dates back forty years ago, when she was in an emergent military project directly ordered by Chairman Mao to develop an efficient anti-malaria drug. After a number of failures, Tu Youyou finally extracted the artemisini, which has gone on to save millions of lives throughout the world.
This dedicated scientist, now 85, however, didn’t stop her medical exploration. She is now continuing her study in artemisinin at her lab in China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing to develop a more efficient cure to help the world completely beat malaria.