A glittering future

The three winners of the 2025 World Laureates Association (WLA) Prize have praised China for its strength in their respective areas of research, and say winning the award will boost their cooperation with the Chinese scientific community.

Speaking at a media event at the 2025 World Laureates Forum, held in Shanghai from Oct 24 to 26, the three laureates, who all come from the United States, said there is an exciting future ahead as they expect China to become a world leader in their various fields.

Scott D Emr, recipient of the 2025 WLA Prize in Life Science or Medicine and a professor of molecular biology and genetics at Cornell University, says that China has developed a huge interest in neurodegenerative diseases, to which his research relates, and there are amazing studies being conducted in the country right now focusing on Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, among others.

"One of China's advantages lies in its far greater flexibility than some other countries, including the US, in pursuing certain model systems like the mouse models and others in pursuing these diseases," says Emr. "So I see China as actually somewhat leading the way now in the research of several of these new degenerative diseases."