GPHL on March 12th appointed Randy Schekman, the 2013 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, as the chief scientist of both the group and its subsidiary Guangzhou General Pharmaceutical Research Institute Co., Ltd. He will head up the study and development of antineoplastic drugs.

GPHL now has a scientific research team consisting of three Nobel laureates, 20 Chinese academicians and TCM masters, and around 100 researchers with doctor’s or postdoctoral degrees.

Randy Schekman is a Howard Hughes Institute Investigator and professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1992.

In 2002, Schekman received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research and  along with James Rothman received the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University for their discovery of cellular membrane trafficking; a process that cells use to organize their activities and communicate with their environment.

In 2013, Schekman, Thomas C. Südhof, and James Rothman were awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells”.

Schekman’s research expertise and interests include saccharomyces cerevisiae, organelle assembly, intracellular protein transport, assembly of cellular organelles, and Alzheimer’s Disease.

After joining GPHL, Schekman and the company will work closely on the research and development of antineoplastic drugs, bio-pharmaceuticals, translational medicine, academic exchange and talent introduction.

GPHL has a history of employing Nobel Laureates. GPHL hired Ferid Murad, the 1998 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, as the director of Guangzhou General Pharmaceutical Research Institute Co., Ltd. Under his guidance, GPHL developed China’s first version of ‘Viagra’ Sildenafil Citrate Tablet which is one of the key products of the group. The company also employed George Smoot, the 1998 Nobel Laureate in Physics, as the director of its institute of medical instruments and apparatus to jointly develop high end medical equipments.

GPHL’s chairman Li Chuyuan (R) presents a GPHL Gourd as a gift to Randy Schekman.

Reported by Monica Liu

Edited by Simon Haywood