Chi-Huey Wong, PhD, Scripps Family Chair Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Scripps Research, has received the 2023 Federation of Asian Chemical Societies (FACS) Foundation Lectureship Award for his pioneering research in carbohydrate chemistry and its translation to medicine. This award is considered one of the highest honors of FACS, highlighting Wong’s foundational contributions to the field.
FACS is made up of 30 chemical societies spanning 20 countries in the Asian Pacific. This year, Wong attended FACS’ 19th Annual Meeting of the Asian Chemical Congress in Istanbul on July 9, where he received his award from the President of the Asian Chemical Congress and presented a lecture on his research.
At Scripps Research, Wong focuses on glycoscience, the study of complex sugars and glycoproteins and their roles in physiology and disease biology. His lab is developing tools that illuminate the role that glycosylation plays in our bodies, such as how these complex sugars impact cancer progression, bacterial and viral infections, neurodegenerative disorders, and many other diseases. The goal of Wong’s research is to translate these scientific insights into therapeutics, such as universal vaccines, antibodies and inhibitors involved in key glycosylation pathways.
Wong has been the recipient of numerous additional awards and honors for his research, including the Tetrahedron Prize (2022), the American Institute of Chemists Chemical Pioneer Award (2022), the Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry (2021), The Royal Society of Chemistry Robert Robinson Award (2015), The Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2014) and the ACS Arthur C. Cope Award (2012).
Wong received his PhD in Chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as his BS and MS in Biochemical Sciences from National Taiwan University. He is also an elected member of Academia Sinica, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the European Molecular Biology Organization and the U.S. National Academy of Inventors.