China's bird flu warrior gets global award

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Thanks to their findings, authorities managed to quickly shut down poultry markets in cities where the cases were reported.

Chen's contributions in quelling the outbreak in China, as well as her general studies of the bird flu virus, including experiments creating virus hybrids to illustrate the threats posed by new strains, put her on Nature magazine's list of "10 people who mattered" in 2013.

Chen says that it wasn't until she became a PhD scholar in 1994 and began working on influenza that she understood her life's goal.

"I realized that through my research I could help solve major problems and make a difference," she says.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus can result in large-scale killing of poultry, but it was earlier thought that vaccines would be ineffective on poultry.

When Chen was a PhD student, she generated several vaccines using both traditional and modern methods, and found that the vaccines could provide protection against bird flu.

The experience also told her that perceptions aren't always correct and that's the point of science－to dig.

In China, it is even more important to develop vaccines against avian influenza, Chen says. The country has a tradition of raising ducks and raises about 75 percent of the world's free-range duck population. The ducks here come in contact with wild birds－a situation that poses a challenge to the country's efforts to prevent and control the flu.

In 2009, Chen and her team started to work on vaccines against influenza in waterfowl. Three years later, they succeeded.

Talking about issues of gender, she jokes that women in science also have to balance work and home while men don't usually have to worry about the laundry or child care.