Peking University, December 20, 2023: The 2023 Ho Leung Ho Lee (HLHL) Foundation award presentation ceremony was held on Dec. 19, 2023, at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. Zhang Yuanhang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at the College of Environmental Sciences, Peking University (PKU), was presented with the Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress, while Chen Peng, a professor from PKU's College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, was awarded the Prize for Scientific and Technological Innovation. 

The HLHL Foundation was established with funds donated by the S. H. Ho Foundation Limited, Dr. Kau-Kui Leung, Dr. Ho Tim, and Dr. Lee Quo-Wei’s Wei Lun Foundation Limited. The Foundation awards Chinese nationals who are committed to the advancement, innovations, and accomplishments of China's science and technology. With the recent accolades, a total of 61 individuals from Peking University have won this award.

Zhang Yuanhang

Zhang's main research is atmospheric environmental chemistry, with a long-term focus on the study of the formation mechanisms, environmental impact, and countermeasures of urban and regional atmospheric combined pollution. He made breakthroughs in the theoretical innovations of free radical chemistry and the quantification of ozone and PM2.5 causes, publishing over 400 academic papers in journals such as Science, Nature, NSR and ES&T. Zhang is also the chief editor of the Blue Book on the Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Ozone Pollution in China (for both 2020 and 2023). 

Chen Peng

Chen is mainly engaged in chemical biology research and has proposed and developed the "bioorthogonal cleavage reaction", which solved the common problem of studying protein function mechanisms in living cells. He also systematically established the "orthogonal chemical toolbox" in living cells, which can be used in protein machinery and medicine, leading to its innovative application in life sciences and pharmaceuticals. Chen has published more than 130 academic papers in journals including Nature and Cell. He was also the first Asian recipient of the Early Career Award (2017) from the Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry. 

Written by: Wang Jia En
Edited by: Shi Xinyao
Source: PKU News (Chinese)