Xiaodong Wang is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 biochemist

Biochemist

Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. Typical biochemists study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. The prefix of "bio" in "biochemist" can be understood as a fusion of "biological chemist."-Role:...

 best known for his work with cytochrome c

Cytochrome c

The Cytochrome complex, or cyt c is a small heme protein found loosely associated with the inner membrane of the mitochondrion. It belongs to the cytochrome c family of proteins. Cytochrome c is a highly soluble protein, unlike other cytochromes, with a solubility of about 100 g/L and is an...

. His laboratory developed an in-vitro assay for the activation of the apoptosis related proteinase Caspase

Caspase

Caspases, or cysteine-aspartic proteases or cysteine-dependent aspartate-directed proteases are a family of cysteine proteases that play essential roles in apoptosis , necrosis, and inflammation....

-3. This allowed the biochemical purification a complex of Cytochrome c, Caspase-9 and the Apoptotic Protease Activating factor-1 (Apaf-1). These components are essential for forming a ternary complex called the apoptosome

Apoptosome

The apoptosome is a large quaternary protein structure formed in the process of apoptosis. Its formation is triggered by the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria in response to an internal or external cell death stimulus...

 that activates Caspase-3 downstream of the intracellular or mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis.

He was awarded the 2006 Shaw Prize

Shaw Prize

The Shaw Prize is an annual award first presented by the Shaw Prize Foundation in 2004. Established in 2002 in Hong Kong, it honours living "individuals, regardless of race, nationality and religious belief, who have achieved significant breakthrough in academic and scientific research or...

 in Life Science and Medicine.

Wang is a member of United States National Academy of Sciences

United States National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

 and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a United States non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded by the American businessman Howard Hughes in 1953. It is one of the largest private funding organizations for biological and medical research in the United...

. Currently he is a professor at National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing.

Honors & awards

• 2002, Hackerman Award, from the Welch Foundation
• 2001, Paul Marks Prize, from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
• 2000, Eli Lilly Award, from American Chemical Society
• 2007, Richard Lounsbery Award, from the National Academy of Sciences, USA
• 2006, Shaw Prize
  Shaw Prize
  The Shaw Prize is an annual award first presented by the Shaw Prize Foundation in 2004. Established in 2002 in Hong Kong, it honours living "individuals, regardless of race, nationality and religious belief, who have achieved significant breakthrough in academic and scientific research or...
  
  , from the Shaw Foundation