Huang Zhenxiang was born on February 10, 1910 in Gulangyu Island, Xiamen, Fujian. virologist. A native of Xiamen, Fujian. Graduated from Yenching University in 1930 with a master's degree. He graduated from Peking Union Medical College in 1934 and received a doctorate. Professor and Honorary Director of the Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. The pioneering new technology of virus in vitro culture method laid the foundation for modern virology and is known as "the second technological revolution in the history of the development of medical virology"; for the first time, the microscopic observation method for quantitative determination of viruses was transformed into naked eye observation. method; research on the epidemiology, etiology and pathogenesis of Japanese encephalitis has made important contributions to controlling the epidemic of Japanese encephalitis in China; first discovered that Japanese encephalitis viruses with different virulence exist in nature strains, and conducted research on the relationship between its ecology and epidemics, certain laws of mutation, methods of preserving strains, and vaccines; a new method of treating live measles vaccines with formalin was invented.
The good family environment enabled him to develop the habit of reading and seeking knowledge. In 1926, he was admitted to Peking Union Medical College, the highest medical institution at that time, with excellent results, and received rigorous medical education. After graduating in 1934, he served as a physician at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Peking Union Medical College Hospital was the best and most authoritative medical institution in China at that time. Huang Zhenxiang worked here for 8 years. He not only laid a solid medical foundation, but also developed the ability to observe, discover problems and solve problems independently. During this period, he published a unique paper on diphtheria bacilli and its immunity, which was valued by American medical journals. In his youth, Huang Zhenxiang, with his keen insight and solid medical foundation, made many achievements in research on cholera, streptococcal infection, plague and other aspects, and published a series of research papers. Huang Zhenxiang's talent was valued by Union Hospital and he was selected to study in the United States in 1941.
While in the United States, Huang Zhenxiang pioneered a new technology for in vitro virus culture that attracted the attention of the world's virology community and laid the foundation for modern virology. At this time, the Japanese invading army was still ravaging the land of China, and the Chinese nation was at a critical moment of survival. He resolutely refused the United States' repeated attempts to stay, and returned to the motherland at the end of 1943 with concern for the country and the people and the ideal of saving the nation through science. , went to Chongqing Central Health Experimental Institute as director of the medical team. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he returned to Peking and served as the director of the Peking Branch of the Central Laboratory of Health.
On the eve of the liberation of Peiping, he chose to stay and wait for the birth of New China.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Huang Zhenxiang's professional expertise began to be brought into play. Although funds were scarce at the time and there were no conditions for large-scale virus research, the People's Government tried its best to purchase scientific research equipment and assistants for him, and he began to research viruses such as Japanese encephalitis, measles, and hepatitis. Huang Zhenxiang is determined to contribute his talents to China's virology cause under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
During the period of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea, he actively responded to the call of the Communist Party of China. In order to crush the enemy's germ warfare, he risked his life to conduct investigations on the front lines of Northeast China and North Korea, and used his professional skills to defend the country. Contributed to world peace.
Huang Zhenxiang has visited more than a dozen countries including the Soviet Union, Romania, the Netherlands, Egypt, France, the Philippines, and the United States, giving lectures and academic exchanges. In 1983, he led a delegation of Chinese microbiology experts to the United States upon invitation to attend the 13th International Congress of Microbiology. In Denton, the United States, he was awarded the title of "Golden Key" and "Honorary Citizen" of the city.
Huang Zhenxiang enjoys a high international reputation. He is a member of the American Society for Experimental Biomedicine and an editorial board member of the "Journal of Virology" co-organized by the Soviet Union and Eastern European socialist countries. He also serves as an editorial board member of the American "International Journal of Virology" and "Infectious Diseases Series". In 1983 he was elected as an honorary member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Huang Zhenxiang is enthusiastic about the cause of Chinese medical virology. He initiated and founded the Virology Society of the Chinese Medical Association and founded the Journal of Experimental and Clinical Virology (the predecessor of the Chinese Journal of Experimental and Clinical Virology).
He has edited books such as "General Introduction to Medical Virology", "Experimental Techniques for Common Viral Diseases", "Chinese Medical Encyclopedia Virology", etc. When he was ill and hospitalized in his later years, he also presided over the compilation of "Fundamentals of Medical Virology and Experimental Techniques" and "Dictionary of Medical Virology".
Huang Zhenxiang is an upright person, sincere and enthusiastic in treating others, knowledgeable, rigorous in scholarship and innovative. In 1985, he joined the Communist Party of China and realized his long-cherished wish. Just as he was leading researchers with great enthusiasm to invest in the new topic of viral immunotherapy for tumor research, leukemia took his life in 1987 at the age of 77.
Virus culture technology
At the beginning of the 20th century, international research on viruses had just started. The work on viruses was still very immature and the methods were very backward. Since viruses are the smallest organisms among microorganisms, detecting the presence of viruses at that time required injecting virus-containing substances into animals and observing the animals' onset or death. Obviously, this method was very primitive. Viruses have another characteristic, that is, they do not have their own enzyme system and need to be parasitic in living cells. Therefore, general microbial culture media cannot allow viruses to reproduce and survive. These two characteristics of viruses make it more difficult to find new techniques for cultivating viruses. Virus culture is the most basic and critical step in virus research. It can be said that without the establishment of new virus culture technologies, there would be no breakthroughs and development in virus research. Therefore, many countries have invested a lot of manpower and material resources in this regard, and many well-known international scholars have been exploring this issue for decades.
In 1943, Huang Zhenxiang published "Further Study on the Titration and Neutralization of Western Equine Encephalitis Virus in Tissue Culture" in the United States. This research paper immediately attracted worldwide attention and was generally recognized by his peers.
This new technology is summarized as follows:
The first step is to use artificial methods to process and digest animal tissue into a single layer of cells, and to provide certain nutrients to these cells. to survive in the test tube.
The second step is to inoculate the virus into the cells. After a period of time, the cells will undergo a series of pathological changes. Observers can indirectly determine whether there is virus reproduction by simply observing whether there are lesions in the cells using an ordinary microscope.
This new technology improves virus culture from the "animal level" of experimental animals and chicken embryos to the "cell level" of in vitro tissue culture. It is also the establishment of this technology that has broadened the thinking of international virologists. Virologists in many countries around the world have adopted or improved this technology, successfully discovered the pathogens of many viral diseases, and isolated many new viruses. . In the 1950s, the famous American virologist Enders won the Nobel Prize based on the use of Huang Zhenxiang's technology. The American "Who's Who in the World" editions from 1982 to 1985 said that Huang Zhenxiang's technology laid the foundation for modern virology.
The practice of virology research has proved that the new technology discovered by Huang Zhenxiang plays an important role in the development of virology research to today's molecular virology level. So far, the world has not found a method for cultivating viruses in vitro that is more advanced than this technology. This new technology is still widely used in high-tech research fields such as vaccine development for viral diseases, production of diagnostic reagents, viral monoclonal antibodies, and genetic engineering. Many countries around the world have used this technology to isolate viruses such as epidemic hemorrhagic fever, measles, and poliomyelitis (polio). The HIV virus that has caused shock around the world in recent years was also isolated using tissue culture technology.
Research on Japanese encephalitis
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, epidemic Japanese encephalitis was one of the infectious diseases that seriously threatened the health of the working people at that time. Huang Zhenxiang clearly knows that it is very difficult to carry out research on Japanese encephalitis and to solve this medical problem. However, his sense of responsibility as the first generation of virologists in New China inspired him to take the initiative to volunteer. He asked the leaders of the Ministry of Health to start virus research in New China starting with Japanese encephalitis. The health authorities fulfilled his wish, supported his work, and provided him with human and material resources. Research work on Japanese encephalitis began.
Due to the limitations of science and technology at that time, the understanding of Japanese encephalitis, an infectious disease, was still superficial. The etiology, pathogenesis, transmission patterns, diagnosis, immunity and other issues of Japanese encephalitis were not yet known. It was not even clear whether the Japanese encephalitis prevalent in China (commonly known as encephalitis at the time) and the Japanese encephalitis prevalent in Japan and other Asian countries were the same disease. These issues were all issues to be revealed in the virology community at that time.
In the first two years after the founding of New China, Huang Zhenxiang organized a comprehensive and systematic investigation. Due to the strong assistance of the health authorities and the enthusiastic cooperation of various medical and health institutions, this work was considerable. Smoothly. After conducting a large number of epidemiological investigations, Huang Zhenxiang led scientific researchers to begin research on virus isolation, establishment of experimental diagnostic methods, ecology of insect vectors for Japanese encephalitis, and characteristics of Japanese encephalitis virus, and basically understood This article clarified the epidemic pattern, transmission routes and characteristics of Japanese encephalitis in China, and emphasized that mosquitoes are the vector insects that transmit Japanese encephalitis, thus providing technical and specific guidance for the vigorous mass patriotic health campaign in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
In 1949, Huang Zhenxiang first started the development of Japanese encephalitis vaccine in China. In a paper, he elaborated on his initial thoughts when developing a vaccine for Japanese encephalitis: “When we started research on epidemic encephalitis in 1949, we first investigated and studied the epidemiology of this infectious disease. And we used serology and virus isolation methods to determine that the cause of the disease was Japanese encephalitis virus. The results of these studies pointed out the direction for prevention work. In order to better meet the needs of prevention work, in 1949 we Vaccine manufacturing trials have begun. "This is the earliest record in the literature of China's Japanese encephalitis vaccine research. In the following decades, the development of Japanese encephalitis vaccines has been ongoing, initially starting from the study of dead vaccines and then progressing to the research of live attenuated Japanese encephalitis vaccines using tissue culture technology. These research results are all permeated with Huang Zhenxiang's hard work. The development of the Japanese encephalitis vaccine won the National Science Conference Award in 1978.
As we all know, the results achieved by preventive medicine research can never be achieved by one person's efforts alone. They must be achieved through the joint efforts of a long period of time, sometimes even several generations. . Research on Japanese encephalitis in China began in 1949. After 40 years of work, it was finally recognized by society. In 1989, this achievement won the first prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Ministry of Health. Although Huang Zhenxiang was no longer alive when the award was presented, and his name was not even in the list of winners, people will not forget Huang Zhenxiang's status as a pioneer in Chinese Japanese encephalitis research and his important role in achieving this result. .
Viral immunity contribution
In 1954, the world successfully isolated measles virus. The development of measles vaccine using tissue culture technology has become an important topic discussed by the world's virology community. In 1961, Huang Zhenxiang devoted himself to the research of measles vaccine with great enthusiasm and abundant energy. He collaborated with Professor Zhu Futang, a famous pediatrician, to conduct in-depth research on the pathogenicity and immunity of measles virus. Their collaboration promoted research on measles viruses in China at that time. Since then, Huang Zhenxiang and the measles virus research laboratory he led have conducted extensive research on measles virus hemagglutinin, measles vaccine adjuvants, and vaccine production processes. "Measles Vaccine Treated with Formalin" was an important paper he published during this period. This paper was presented at the Fourth International Conference on Viruses and was well received by the participants.
After 1980, Huang Zhenxiang devoted himself to the research of virus immunity and published papers such as "The Effect of Passive Immunity on Automatic Immunity of Live Viruses". In terms of research on viral immunotherapy of tumors, he guided graduate students to conduct exploratory work, and published "Preliminary Study of Different Viruses Treating Mice with Ascites Tumors Twice" and "Research on the Combination of Viruses and Cyclophosphamide in the Treatment of Mice Tumors" ", "Research on the anti-macrophage migration effect of tumors" and many other papers. These research results undoubtedly provide valuable clues and basis for finding anti-tumor treatments.
The new idea of ??viral immunotherapy for tumors proposed by Huang Zhenxiang will be a promising field to be developed in tumor treatment research. Knowledge point Huang Zhenxiang’s influence
Due to Huang Zhenxiang’s important contribution in medical virology research, he was elected as a member of the Department of Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1981 and was appointed as the honorary director of the Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine. He also serves as the executive director of the Chinese Society of Microbiology, the executive director of the Society of Microbiology and Immunology of the Chinese Medical Association, and the chairman of the Virology Society of the Chinese Medical Association.
After Huang Zhenxiang’s death, in order to commemorate his achievements in medical virology research, his colleagues, relatives and friends at home and abroad jointly initiated the establishment of the Huang Zhenxiang Medical Virology Foundation, and awarded the award in Huang Zhenxiang’s name Scholarship to reward newcomers who have made contributions to medical virology research. The Virology Society of the Chinese Medical Association and the Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine jointly edited and published "Selected Papers of Huang Zhenxiang" to commemorate his outstanding contributions in virology research.