[Photo/Guiyang news network]
The 2023 National Science and Technology Awards were announced in the national capital Beijing on June 24, with 250 projects recognized.
Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, in Guiyang – capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province – received second prize in the competition.
The university won recognition for its achievements in "The Construction and Demonstration Application of the Theory and Technology System for Ecological Planting of Chinese Medicinal Materials".
The project was led by Guo Lanping, a distinguished scholar at the university and a researcher at the Institute of Chinese Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Faculty and students from the university participated in the endeavor.
Addressing issues such as soil degradation, uncontrolled pests and diseases – as well as the unstable quality of medicinal materials caused by imitating traditional chemical agricultural models in Chinese medicine agriculture – the project team spent 20 years developing an ecological planting model and a supporting technical system for Chinese medicinal materials.
The team also established a national technical service system for the ecological planting of Chinese medicinal materials.
Most notably, Professor Zhou Tao, dean of the Resource Institute for Chinese & Ethnic Materia Medica at the university, led a team focusing on key production technologies and their applications for Guizhou's specialized medicinal materials, such as gastrodia.
Moving forwards, plans are for the university to actively promote the transformation of existing sci-tech achievements – leveraging important platforms, key disciplines and major projects – to enhance scientific research and innovate endeavors in the development of traditional Chinese medicine.