Prof. Zhou Hongwei was awarded National Science Fund as Distinguished Young Scholar (also known as “National Jieqing” funding) in 2019 for his research contribution on 'Human Microbiome Diagnostic Methods'. Prof. Zhou Hongwei was the first awardee of Distinguished Young Scholars of NSFC in laboratory medicine subarea. He was an awardee of the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars in 2014, an outstanding talent in the new century of the Ministry of Education, and a national talent among the thousands of projects in Guangdong Province. 

His research mainly engaged to study the host-microbiome interactions in different parts of the human body, mainly intestine, oral cavity, and reproductive tract, etc. His lab is trying to figure out the role of microbiome in the development and diagnosis of varies diseases. Zhou’s group has done a great deal of innovative researches, which contribute to the development of human microbiome diagnostic methods and the understanding of the mechanisms of host-microbiome interactions. Based on their work, he came up with the hypothesis named “REgion-dependent MIcrobiome DIagnosis (ReMiDi) (ReMiDi)” to guide the applications of human microbial diagnostic models used in varies diseases.

The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars are awarded once a year, and the evaluation process is strict, with an average funding rate not exceeding 10%. At present, most of the 'Distinguished Young Scholar' grantees have become authoritative experts and academic leaders in their respective fields, and gradually developed into leaders in the development of China's scientific undertakings.

In the past 25 years of development, a large number of 'Distinguished Young Scholar' grantees got promoted as academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Adapted from:  http://news.smu.edu.cn/info/1031/31978.htm