Congratulations to Professor Xiao Bailong from the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences for winning the 2022 “XPLORER PRIZE” in the field of life science

On September 15, the highly anticipated list of winners at the 4th “XPLORER PRIZE” was formally released, in which 50 young scientists are included. Professor Xiao Bailong from the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences is one of the five winners in the field of life science.

About XPLORER PRIZE

“XPLORER PRIZE” is a public welfare award jointly initiated by Ma Huateng, Chairman & CEO of Tencent and Founder of Tencent Foundation, and Rao Yi, Professor of Peking University, together with 14 scientists, including Yang Zhenning, Mao Shude and He Huawu, open to Mainland young scientific and technological workers aged 45 and below in basic science and frontier technology fields, with the hope to encourage young scientific and technological workers to have the spirit of exploring the unknown world and attract more young people to engage in the research of basic science and frontier technology.

Profile of Professor Xiao Bailong

Dr. Xiao Bailong, Tenured Professor and Deputy Dean of School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Senior Research Fellow of Tsinghua University-Peking University Joint Center for Life Sciences, Research Fellow of Tsinghua-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Research Fellow of State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Research Fellow of Beijing Frontier Research Center for Biological Structure; Winner of National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, Candidate of National Special Support Program for High-level Talents, and Chief Scientist of Scientific and Technological Innovation 2030 - “Brain Science and Brain-like Research”. Dr. Xiao received his Bachelor of Science degree from Sun Yat-sen University in 2001; and received his doctor’s degree from University of Calgary in Canada from 2001 to 2006; in 2007-2012, he was a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at The Scripps Research Institute in the United States, with Professor Ardem Patapoutian, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, as his supervisor. In 2013, Dr. Xiao joined Tsinghua University and set up his own independent research team, committed to exploring how mammals, including human beings, perceive mechanical forces, an essential question of life science, and identified the PIEZO channel, the first mechanically gated cationic channel found in mammals (Nature 2012; Nature 2015; Neuron 2016); revealed the structural and functional mechanism of PIEZO’s efficient conversion of mechanical forces into bioelectrical signals, and established a mechanical gating theory to quantitatively explain its mechanical sensitivity at pN scale (Nature 2018; Nature 2019; Neuron 2020; Nature 2022); explored the wide range of physiological and pathological functions mediated by PIEZO, discovered its small molecule drugs, and provided new target mechanisms and drug development strategies for the treatment of related diseases (eLife 2019; Cell Reports 2019; Nat Commun 2018, 2021; Neuron 2022). The research results have produced a significant academic impact, with several research papers cited by the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine committee and included in classic neurobiology textbooks.