Award

Wang lauded as ‘one of the most highly original, bold and creative scientists’

He won the ASBMB–Merck Award
Geoff Hunt
Feb. 23, 2012

Xiaodong Wang, a former Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator now at the National Institute of Biological Sciences in Beijing, has been named the winner of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s Merck Award.

awards_merck_wang

Wang received the award for his discoveries concerning the mitochondrial basis of apoptosis, detailing the sequence of steps involved and showing that both effectors and inhibitors of programmed cell death are housed in this organelle.

Professor Xiao-Fan Wang from the Duke University Medical Center hailed Xiaodong Wang’s lab for “identifying almost all the major cellular components that mediate the apoptotic signal.”

By working out the steps of the apoptotic pathway and identifying the key players, Wang also generated a plethora of drug targets currently being explored by several pharmaceutical companies, including Joyant Pharmaceuticals, which he co-founded in 2005.

For Wang, who recently moved to China to serve as director of the national institute in Beijing, the award carries a special meaning. “It is a great feeling to know that although I am gone, I am not forgotten,” he said.

Wang came to the United States from China in 1985 to pursue his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. After graduating in 1991, he stayed on in the lab of Nobel laureates Mike Brown and Joe Goldstein and worked on sterol regulation of gene expression. A brief appointment at Emory University was not enough to keep Wang from returning in 1996 to UT-Southwestern, where he worked until moving this past year back to China.

In a joint nomination, Brown and Goldstein praised Wang as “one of the most highly original, bold and creative scientists in the world today.” They continued: “His influence and impact on the field of biochemistry and molecular biology have been wide and deep.”

Wang will received his award during the Experimental Biology 2012 conference in San Diego, and delivered an award lecture.

The ASBMB-Merck Award recognizes outstanding contributions to research in biochemistry and molecular biology. It provides a plaque and a $5,000 purse, and it covers transportation and expenses of the recipient and spouse to attend the ASBMB annual meeting and present a lecture.

Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?

Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition monthly.

Learn more
Geoff Hunt

Geoff Hunt is the ASBMB's former outreach manager. 

Get the latest from ASBMB Today

Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.

Latest in People

People highlights or most popular articles

2025 voter guide
Society News

2025 voter guide

April 29, 2025

Learn about the candidates running for ASBMB President, Secretary, Councilor, Nominating Committee and Publications Committee.

Meet Paul Shapiro
Interview

Meet Paul Shapiro

April 29, 2025

Learn how the JBC associate editor went from milking cows on a dairy farm to analyzing kinases in the lab.

In memoriam: Jeffrey Cameron
In Memoriam

In memoriam: Jeffrey Cameron

April 28, 2025

He was an associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder and co-founder of the biotech company Prometheus Materials.

Finding a symphony among complex molecules
Profile

Finding a symphony among complex molecules

April 23, 2025

MOSAIC scholar Stanna Dorn uses total synthesis to recreate rare bacterial natural products with potential therapeutic applications.

Sketching, scribbling and scicomm
Science Communication

Sketching, scribbling and scicomm

April 16, 2025

Graduate student Ari Paiz describes how her love of science and art blend to make her an effective science communicator.

Embrace your neurodivergence and flourish in college
Diversity

Embrace your neurodivergence and flourish in college

April 14, 2025

This guide offers practical advice on setting yourself up for success — learn how to leverage campus resources, work with professors and embrace your strengths.