On July 8, the National Science and Technology Awards Conference, the general assemblies ofthemembers of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the 11th National Congress of the China Association for Science and Technology were held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, President of the PRC, and Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission, presented awards to recipients of the State Preeminent Science and TechnologyAward and other national award winners, and delivered an important speech.
Nanjing Medical University (NMU) won three awards at the 2025 State Science and Technology Awards. Among them, one project led by the University received the Second Prize of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award, while two collaborative projects involving NMU also received the Second Prize.
As the first completing institution, NMU received the Second Prize of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Awardfor the project “Etiological Mechanisms of Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and Birth Defects and the Development and Application of Prevention and Control Technologies for These Conditions”, with Professor Hu Zhibin serving as the first completer.
Supported by the National Key Research and Development Program and several other major research initiatives, the project addressed China’s strategic priorities in population health through more than a decade of sustained research. The team established a large-scale birth cohort comprising 100,000 families, featuring longitudinal follow-up, multidimensional data collection, and a family-based study design. This internationally leading cohort has become an invaluable research resource for identifying the determinants of offspring health and developing evidence-based strategies for the prevention and control of adverse pregnancy outcomes and birth defects.
Drawing on this unique cohort, the research team focused on population-based prevention of health risks affecting offspring and achieved a series of landmark breakthroughs. These include new standards for evaluating the safety of assisted reproductive technologies for offspring, an integrated prevention and control model for major hereditary diseases, and innovative technologies for the early diagnosis and treatment of functional birth defects. The cohort has become a vital strategic resource for research spanning the entire reproductive life course and offspring health, making significant contributions to improving reproductive health and promoting healthy population development in China.
In addition, NMU contributed to two other award-winning projects. As the second completing institution, the University participated in the project “Pathogenesis of Vascular Remodeling Diseases and the Innovation and Application of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technologies”, which received the Second Prize of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award. As the fourth completing institution, NMU also participated in the project “Pathogenesisof Heart Failure and the Establishment and Application of a Key Technological System for its Diagnosis and Treatment ”, which also received the Second Prize.
（Drafted by Science and Technology Office; Translated by Zhang Bei）
