AWARDEE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES AND MATERIA MEDICA PRIZE

MA LAN

Dr. Ma Lan was born in Liaoning Province on September 22,1958. She obtained her B.S. degree in pharmacy from Shenyang College of Pharmacy in 1982 and M.S. degree in immunology from China Medical University in 1984. She went to USA in 1986 and obtained Ph.D. degree in biological chemistry from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1990.She did her postdoctoral research work at University of North Carolina and Bayer Research Center during 1991 and 1995.In December of 1995, Dr. Ma returned to China and took a full professor position at Shanghai Medical University (Fudan University Medical Center).Dr. Ma is now a Cheung Kong professor and director of Fudan University Pharmacology Research Center.
Dr. Ma has made important contributions to opioid tolerance and dependence research. Chronic use of opiates leads to drug tolerance and addiction which are mediated by opioid receptors. Dr. Ma investigated into mechanism of homologous opioid receptor desensitization and found that chronic administration of opioids regulates G protein coupled receptor kinases in brain and causes phosphorylation and negatively feedback regulates opioid signaling. On the other hand, stimulation of non-opioid systems can heterologously phosphorylate opioid receptor and negatively regulate opioid signaling through a novel pathway of activation of protein kinase C. These studies revealed the critical role of protein kinases in opioid tolerance and dependence. For her outstanding scientific achievements, Dr. Ma received the National Natural Science Award (second rank) from the State Council in 2002.