Hard-driving researcher fights enemies of health

One quality of Major General Chen Wei's that people rave about is the speedy way she does things. Peers of Chen, the Chinese military's top biomedical expert, said she walks, talks and eats very fast so that she can use the time saved to battle the demons of public health.

For nearly three decades, the 54-year-old scientist from Zhejiang province has been at the front line fighting some of the world's most dangerous pathogens, including anthrax, smallpox, the bubonic plague, Ebola and the coronaviruses responsible for SARS, MERS and COVID-19.

On Tuesday, she received the honorary title "People's Hero" from President Xi Jinping for her contribution to COVID-19-related basic research and vaccine development.

"People often ask me: 'Chen Wei, can you tackle less devilishly difficult topics?'" she said. "But when I think about how these pathogens can be used in war or terrorist attacks and cause catastrophes for countries and their people, I just feel compelled to craft a biological bulwark against them."

When Chen was studying chemical engineering at Tsinghua University in the late 1980s, she was fashionable and popular, with silky long hair and a passion for literature and dancing. She also worked at the university's cafe.

After graduation, Chen was drawn to the cutting-edge research topics and state-of-the-art equipment at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences. She entered the academy's microorganisms and epidemiology branch in 1991, and now has become the head of the academy's bioengineering institute.

Chen said she still remembers how her first experiment at the academy made her cry while alone in the lab. "I was cultivating a batch of solution but didn't notice the tubes weren't working properly. So on Chinese New Year's Eve, I returned to the lab and saw that two months of hard work had all leaked on the floor. Words could not describe how sad and helpless I felt."

"The incident taught me to be meticulous, especially when working against the clock. But it also taught me that scientific research can be a very lonely and difficult undertaking, and you need a great deal of passion to push through that monotony."

Zhang Xiaopeng, a colleague of Chen's at the bioengineering institute, said she has an intense work ethic and often stays up all night in the lab doing research. "I often work till midnight, but even so, I couldn't keep up with her intensity at work."

Chen said that given the difficulties of her research topics, she always feels like there is not enough time. When the COVID-19 outbreak began, Chen told a senior scientist that they should be able to create a vaccine in three months. "I still remember what the senior scientist told me: 'Three months is still too slow, can you do it in two?'"

Chen rose to the challenge and created the Adenovirus Type 5 Vector vaccine candidate that entered phase one clinical trials on March 16, making it the first clinical trial of its kind in the world.

The vaccine, dubbed "Ad5-nCoV", uses a weakened common cold virus to introduce a section of the genetic material from the novel coronavirus into the human body, thus training the body to produce antibodies that recognize the virus and fight it off.

Trials going well

According to The Lancet, a well-known British medical journal, the phase two clinical trial for the vaccine has found it to be safe and able to induce an immune response. Chen said the phase three trial, which will include more participants, is being conducted overseas and is going smoothly.

Last month, regulatory bodies in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan approved the phase three trials of Chen's vaccine candidate in their countries. The trial in Saudi Arabia began in August and the one in Pakistan would start this month.

Meanwhile, the vaccine is being optimized for mass-production, and current evidence suggests an annual production of 300 million doses should be achievable, she said. But the exact length and strength of the protection can only be known for certain after the phase three trial.

Ma Enhao, Chen's 22-year-old son, said his mother dropped everything when she realized how serious the COVID-19 virus was and rushed to Wuhan, Hubei province, with her team and equipment on Jan 26. Ma said he is used to his mother leaving abruptly－Chen left the family four times in 2014 to assist in the Ebola control effort in Sierra Leone.

"I know she was throwing herself into danger, but I also know she can't refuse the call of duty," he said. "She was sleeping less than four hours a day in Wuhan. Her hair turned gray and she lost a lot of weight. But when I saw on TV that her vaccine had made it into clinical trials, I couldn't help but feel very proud."

On Feb 26, Chen's birthday, the head of her academy sent her a birthday greeting. Ma said his mother's only reply was, "No choice but success".

"She has that fire in her that is unique to military researchers," he said. Hoping to follow in his mother's footsteps, Ma also recently graduated from college with a degree in microbiology. "As a young adult, we should spend our youth serving our country and the noble cause of science," he said.