NSC chief to present Taiwan-France Awards

The awards — established in 1999 based on an agreement between the Cabinet-level NSC and Academie des Sciences, Institut de France (French Academy Institute) — are issued to one or two distinguished scientists in Taiwan or France to honor their achievements in specific scientific areas designated for the year by the review board. Biology and chemistry were the areas designated for 2007, while mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geoscience, and engineering were the main categories for 2008, according to the NSC liaison office stationed in France.

The office said that the 2007 award winners were Hsing Yue-ie — a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology — and Michel Delseny — a research fellow at University of Perpignan/CNRS in France.

According to Academia Sinica, Delseny and Hsing have been friends for 20 years and collaborated on seed research ever since. The duo’s research led to major advances in rice genomics and functional genomics.

They analyzed a group of unique seeds laced with late embryogenesis abundant proteins — which are essential to the desiccation tolerance in seed — and their study of the protein’s structure and potential functions has paved the way for many other valuable research results.

A NSC liaison officer noted that they were selected not only for their scientific accomplishments, also for their contribution to the promotion of bilateral academic and educational exchanges between Taiwan and France.

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