Nancy Chu Ip Yuk-yu (; also spelled as Nancy Y. Ip in academic publications) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

. She is serving as the 5th President of the

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991, it was the territory's third institution to be granted university status, and the firs ...

(HKUST) since 19 October 2022. She had served as the Vice-President of Research and Development, the Morningside Professor of Life Science, and Director of the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience at the HKUST. Since December 2022, Ms. Ip has also served as the deputy from the Hong Kong delegation to the National People's Congress and received the largest number of votes from the 1273 member Electoral Committee which elects delegates, receiving 1254 votes.

Biography

Nancy Ip was born in

, with her ancestral home in Taishan,

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. She is the youngest of six children. She attended secondary education at

St. Mary's Canossian College St. Mary's Canossian College () is a Catholic girls secondary school in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The school was founded in 1900, and is situated at the junction of Austin Road and Chatham Road South. The school, known as St Mary's ...

. She received her bachelor degree in

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

from Simmons College in 1977, and she earned a doctorate in

pharmacology Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur betwee ...

from Harvard University Medical School in 1983. After graduation, she spent the early part of her scientific career in the USA, and was Senior Staff Scientist at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, New York. Since joining The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 1993, Ip served as Dean of Science, the Director of the Biotechnology Research Institute, and the Head of the Department of Biochemistry. She is currently the Vice-President for Research and Development, the Morningside Professor of Life Science, and Director of the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience at the University. She has been elected to the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

(2001), the World Academy of Sciences (2004), the US National Academy of Sciences (2015), the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences (2015), the American of Arts and Sciences (2016), and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2019). In 2004, she received the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science Award at the 6th Annual L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards for her discoveries on the molecular control of growth, differentiation and synapse formation in the nervous system.

Research

Ip has made seminal discoveries in the biology of neurotrophic factors, specifically proteins that support the growth, survival, and differentiation of both developing and mature

neuron A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, excitable cell (biology), cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network (biology), neural net ...

s. Her recent research to understand the deregulation of signaling pathways mediated by different classes of cell surface receptors has led to critical insights on the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

, and unveiled new molecular targets and potential therapeutic strategies for the disease.

Award

* 1998 - Croucher Foundation Senior Research Fellowship * 2001 - Academician of the

* 2003 & 2011 - State Natural Science Award, State Council of the People's Republic of China * 2004 - Fellow,

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS) is a North–south research partnerships, merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting more than 1,400 scientists in some 1 ...

* 2004 - L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science * 2008 - Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress of Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation * 2008 - Medal of Honor, Hong Kong SAR Government * 2011 - Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Merite, France * 2014 - Justice of Peace, Hong Kong SAR Government * 2015 - Founding Member, The Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong * 2016 - Foreign Associate, US

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

* 2016 - Foreign Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences * 2016 - 10 Science Stars of China by Nature * 2016 -

Asian Scientist 100 The Asian Scientist 100 is an annually published list of 100 prize-winning Asian researchers, academicians, innovators and business leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region and a range of scientific disciplines. Recipients "must have received ...

, ''

Asian Scientist ''Asian Scientist'' is an English language science and technology magazine published in Singapore. History and profile ''Asian Scientist'' was launched as a blog in March 2011 by Juliana Chan. The blog's popularity eventually led to a partnersh ...

'' * 2017 - Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS), Hong Kong SAR Government * 2019 - Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences

References

External links

Ip Lab - Molecular Neuroscience Laboratory (ust.hk)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ip, Nancy 1955 births Living people 21st-century American women scientists American women academics Chinese women biologists Chinese women neuroscientists Delegates to the 14th National People's Congress from Hong Kong Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Harvard Medical School alumni Hong Kong women scientists Academic staff of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Presidents of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Simmons University alumni TWAS fellows

Biography

Research

Award

Further reading

References

External links