Introduction
Xiaodong Wang (simplified Chinese: 王晓东; traditional Chinese: 王曉東; pinyin: Wāng Xiǎodōng, born 1963) is a Chinese-born American biochemist best known for his work with cytochrome c. His laboratory developed an in-vitro assay for the activation of the apoptosis related proteinase Caspase-3. This allowed the biochemical purification of a complex of Cytochrome c, Caspase-9 and the Apoptotic Protease Activating factor-1 (APAF1). These components are essential for forming a ternary complex called the apoptosome that activates Caspase-3 downstream of the intracellular or mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis.
He was awarded the 2006 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine.
Wang is a member of United States National Academy of Sciences and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Currently he is a professor at National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing.
Honors & awards
- 2007, Richard Lounsbery Award, from the National Academy of Sciences, USA
- 2006, Shaw Prize, from the Shaw Foundation
- 2004, NAS Award in Molecular Biology
- 2002, Hackerman Award, from the Welch Foundation
- 2001, Paul Marks Prize, from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
- 2000, Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, from American Chemical Society