Nancy Chu Ip Yuk-yu (), as known as Nancy Y. Ip in academic publications, is a Hong Kong neuroscientist. 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 Clear Water Bay Peninsula, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991 by the British Hong Kong Government, it was the territory's third institut ...

(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.

Biography

Nancy Ip was born in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, with her

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

Taishan __NOTOC__ Taishan may refer to: *Mount Tai or Taishan (), Shandong, China * Taishan District, Tai'an (), named after the Mount Tai, a district in Tai'an, Shandong, China *Taishan, Guangdong (), a county-level city of Jiangmen, Guangdong, China ** G ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

. 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 and

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

from

Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts * Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky * Ha ...

in 1977, and she earned a doctorate in pharmacology 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 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American biotechnology company headquartered in Westchester County, New York. The company was founded in 1988. Originally focused on neurotrophic factors and their regenerative capabilities, giving rise to ...

, New York. Since joining

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Clear Water Bay Peninsula, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991 by the British Hong Kong Government, it was the territory's third institutio ...

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); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republi ...

(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, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. ...

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, 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 (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable deve ...

* 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 * 2016 - Foreign Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences * 2016 - 10 Science Stars of China by Nature * 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 Chinese women biologists Chinese women neuroscientists Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Harvard Medical School alumni Hong Kong women scientists Hong Kong University of Science and Technology faculty Presidents 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 Simmons University alumni TWAS fellows American women academics

Biography

Research

Award

Further reading

References

External links