Kung Hsiang-fu or Kong Xiangfu (; 4 September 1942 – 17 June 2019) was a Chinese molecular geneticist, molecular oncologist, and

virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, their ...

. He was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999.

Biography

Kung was born on 4 September 1942 in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

, Republic of China. He graduated from National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan in 1963, and earned his Ph.D. from

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Vanderbilt University School of Medicine is a graduate medical school of Vanderbilt University located in Nashville, Tennessee. Located in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center on the southeastern side of the Vanderbilt University campus, the S ...

in 1969. From 1971 to 1986, Kung worked in molecular biology research at

Hoffmann-La Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX ...

in the United States. At Roche he helped develop the world's first human

interferon Interferons (IFNs, ) are a group of signaling proteins made and released by host cells in response to the presence of several viruses. In a typical scenario, a virus-infected cell will release interferons causing nearby cells to heighten the ...

medicine. He made several inventions for which Roche was awarded patents. From 1986 to 1998, he was Chief of the Laboratory of Biochemical Biology at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. He received the NIH MERIT Award in 1998. In 1999, he was appointed Professor and Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Hong Kong. He was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that same year. After 2004, he served as Professor of Virology and Director of the State Key Laboratory in Oncology in South China at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Kung was also a professor at the

Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (), abbreviated as SYSUCC, is a public hospital in Guangzhou, China. It is affiliated with Sun Yat-sen University. The hospital was founded in March 1964. It is a Level III Class A hospital (the highest rank ...

in Guangzhou and the Army Medical University in Chongqing. On 17 June 2019, Kung died of an illness in Chongqing, at the age of 76.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kung, Hsiang-fu 1942 births 2019 deaths Chinese University of Hong Kong faculty University of Hong Kong faculty Biologists from Chongqing Chinese expatriates in the United States Chinese geneticists Chinese molecular biologists Chinese oncologists Chinese virologists Hoffmann-La Roche people Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences National Chung Hsing University alumni National Institutes of Health faculty Sun Yat-sen University faculty Taiwanese people from Chongqing Vanderbilt University School of Medicine alumni