Professor David Ben Yaacov, an expert from the talent pool of Guiyang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone (Guiyang HIDZ), has been conducting research into anti-cancer drugs in Guiyang, Southwest China's Guizhou province, as he aims to help his "second home" develop.
As the world's first scholar to discover the main cancer gene Fli-1 that causes leukemia, Yaacov was brought to the Guizhou Provincial Natural Products Research Center from the University of Toronto, Canada, in 2013, as an expert.
"Traditional Chinese medicine in Guizhou has high research value. For a specific component, we conduct thousands of analyses and tests," said Yaacov, adding that he strives to seek out meaningful data from each group of comparative and regular data, continually verifying his experimental hypotheses until he obtains the expected results.
Over the past decade, the professor has successfully created three experimental animal models of leukemia, breast cancer and melanoma, and over 30 cell models.
He has also established a drug library based on traditional Chinese medicine formulations in Guizhou, screened over 3,500 compounds, drugs, and extracts, tested the anti-tumor activity of hundreds of marketed finished drugs in Guizhou, and discovered 20 natural small molecule inhibitors of Fli-1 and 15 from Guizhou traditional medicine that can combat tumors.
These research achievements have earned Yaacov the Guizhou Provincial Cooperation Award in Science and Technology and the Guizhou Provincial Natural Science Second Prize.
In 2021, he was also awarded the "Friendship Award" by the Chinese Government.
In addition to his own work, Yaacov frequently guides students in conducting experiments and provides invaluable mentoring to other researchers in the laboratory, significantly enhancing the level of scientific research within the lab.
Yaacov has mentored over 30 doctoral students, 40 postdoctoral students, and more than 10 master's students.
He has also led two National Natural Science Foundation projects and one key project in Guizhou province. Moreover, Yaacov participated in one joint project by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Guizhou Provincial People's Government.
He has assisted young researchers at his workplace in securing 15 national-level projects, fostering groups of young teams in Guizhou with strong research skills.
"I love Guizhou. The people here are kind and hospitable. Its natural scenery is picturesque, and its development is skyrocketing," he said.