Unit 1 Tu Youyou Awarded Nobel Prize P2-3RX版新教材（选择性必修一）

6October2015Thisyear'sNobelPrizeforPhysiologyorMedicinehasbeenawardedtoTuYouyou

(co-winner),whoseresearchledtothediscoveryofartemisinin,acrucialnewtreatmentformalaria.Artemisininhassavedhundredsofthousandsoflives,andhasledtoimprovedhealthformillionsofpeople.Over200millionpeoplearoundtheworldgetmalariaeachyear,andabout600,000diefromit.ArtemisininhasbecomeavitalpartTuYouyouAwardedNobelPrizeofthetreatmentformalaria,andisthoughttosave100,000livesayearinAfricaalone.TuYouyou,acommittedandpatientscientist,wasborninNingbo,China,on30December1930,andgraduatedfromPekingUniversityMedicalSchoolin1955.Aftershegraduated,sheworkedattheChinaAcademyofTraditionalChineseMedicineinBeijing.In1967,theChinesegovernmentformedateamofscientistswiththeobjectiveofdiscoveringanewtreatmentformalaria,andTuYouyouwasamongthefirstresearcherschosen.Inthebeginning,TuYouyouwenttoHainan,wheremalariawasmorecommon,tostudymalaria

patients.In1969,shebecametheheadoftheprojectinBeijing,anddecidedtoreviewancientChinesemedicaltextstofindtraditionalbotanicaltreatmentsforthedisease.Herteamexaminedover2,000oldmedicaltexts,andevaluated280,000plantsfortheirmedicalproperties.Fromtheirresearch,theydiscoveredandtested380distinctancientChinesemedicaltreatmentsthatshowedpromiseinthefightagainstmalaria.Onemedicaltextfromthefourthcenturysuggestedusingtheextractwormwoodtotreatafever.Tu'steamtestedacollectionofdriedwormwoodleavesbutfoundnoeffect.They

thentriedboilingfreshwormwood,andusingtheliquidobtainedfromthistotreatmalaria,butthisdidnotwork,either.Theirprojectgotstuck.However,TuYouyouwouldnotacknowledgedefeat.Sheanalysedthemedicaltextsagain,andbychance,shefoundonesentencesuggestingadifferentwaytotreatthewormwood.Sheconcludedthatboilingthesweetwormwoodapparentlydestroyeditsmedicalproperties.Usingalowertemperaturetodrawouttheextract,shefoundasubstancethatworked.Afterfailingmorethan190times,theteamfinallysucceededin1971.TuYouyouandherteammemberseveninsistedontestingthemedicineonthemselvestomakesurethatitwassafe.Later,themedicinewastestedonmalariapatients,mostofwhomrecovered.Thismedicine,whichwascalledartemisinin,soonbecameastandardtreatmentformalaria.AccordingtoTuYouyou,thediscoveryofartemisininwasateameffort.UponhearingthatshehadbeenawardedtheNobelPrize,shesaid,“Thehonourisnotjustmine.Thereisateambehindme,andallthepeopleofmycountry.Thissucce